The Hades Times: June 2009

This is the kind of thing that makes the Playstation Blog so cool.

Video Games | Time of Shadows | Debut Trailer

Sounds like a good name for a blog.

This kind of looks like the Tekken 6 Campaign mode. I can't really imagine how this is going to play out. I guess it is going to be a mix of fighting brawler style and PVP style as well. But the actual nuts and bolts of gameplay is yet to be seen. Its' certainly interesting, here's hoping Namco has a Soulcalibur Online in works, now THAT would be cool!

Technorati Tags: KOF,MMORPG,Fightinggames,PC,kingoffighters

Normally, a movie tie-in video game is not even worth the time it took to cobble it together. The games are usually so terrible that most people simply avoid them out of hand. X-Men Origins Wolverine for the XBOX 360 and PS3 is different from these games however. Raven Software managed to put together a pretty good game where you feel like your Wolverine, finally!

The graphics in Wolverine Origins is a pretty descent game but it has some problems. Unfortunately these problems are all most critical. What do I mean by this? Well, let's start with the good stuff first.

In most of the game the graphical prowess of Wolverine Origins is first rate. Stunning vistas, excellent models on Wolvie, and even some incredible gorey dismemberments that would make Epic proud. The problem with the graphics in general is that there are some real graphical bugs here. Boxes that have invisible perimeters, chopper pilots that bleed purple, terrible supporting cast models, and of course the occasional clipping and slowdown during cinematics. Which in 2009 seems a little unreal.

Perhaps the greatest and the worst thing about Wolverine however, is the gameplay. Wolverine allows you to do awesome combos and really cut guys to shreds. The game gives you some amazing powers and these increase in power as you level up and allocate points. There are some incredible action sequences here.

There is another part to the game. Its' all most as if your suffering through it to get to the fighting; the platforming. Not just platforming, but horrible platforming. You never feel LESS like Wolverine than when your doing your best Tomb Raider one impression. Jumping from box to box and rope to rope. In some cases the environment around you could be used to platform off of; but instead you are locked into this horrid path. In one case it looks like you could just lunge up to the helicopter like you have done MANY times before and you can't, you have to jump around and try and avoid it. There are certainly lots instances in the game that will make you play for hours on end. The game allows you to collect mutagens and skills both of which allow you to make your character stronger. Which is wonderful. Which just reconfirms on wonderful the fighting part of the game is; and how worthless the platforming part is.

There is plenty of fan service in Wolverine Origins. You can collect action figures to unlock challenges where you can earn new costumes for Wolverine. Any of these costumes can be equipped between saves. All you have to do is pop out of the game and pop back in. There are also some hidden gems in the game associated with achievements. All are great and certainly are obviously more geared toward what the game really intended to achieve.

Your feral senses which turn the whole screen trippy and shows you the path and some interactive objects. This does show interactive objects which can also be of some use, but this too is more a product of the flawed design rather than an innovative feature. The whole point of feral senses appears to be purely because some of the paths they want you to take through these environments were crazy even to them.

This is a tragedy of epic proportions considering the core game play of fighting and lunging and even most of the boss battles is absolutely perfect. Why Raven felt the NEED to have platforming and SO MUCH of it! It is beyond my understanding. It virtually ruined an all most great game. The quick time event with the stupid Sentinel really needs to some work. I really felt like I was banging my head against the wall.

While it is a better game than 99% of all other movie tie in games with the possible exception of Chronicles of Riddick. Wolverine Origins is certainly an incredible first step toward a better movie game. But it isn't any where near where it should be. While the game is probably worth a rental it is definitely not worth a purchase. While Wolverine definitely does what it sets out to do; make you feel like Wolverine. It's too bad the rest of the game was SO poorly designed. Unfortunately there are just too many good games out and coming out to waste your time or heaven forbid money to get Wolverine Origins.

Technorati Tags: wolverine,origins,x-men,xbox360,PS3,sony,microsoft,console,videogames,movies,videogame

Game looks like a lot of fun and some of the graphics actually look good for the PSPs' hardware. I can't wait to play it myself. Once I get a PSP; hopefully both will happen soon.

Technorati Tags: PSPGO,PSP,UndeadKnights,sony,destructoid,blogs,videogames,videogame,portable,mobile

E3 2009 is over and what an E3 it turned out to be. If you haven't been following the site for the past week, then you are not a very nice person and should head back over and read all that now. Seriously though, head to the bottom of the page and hit the older posts link to see all the stuff that started trickling through over the past 5 or 6 days. Over 30 posts to gander at. Here I will be reviewing a few of the most important games, services, and announcements that were made during the show as well as a little commentary on why these things are important.

1. Project Natal. This was the full 3D motion sensitive camera system that was announced by Microsoft during their Press Conference. The camera seems much more advanced than the similar offering of Sonys'. However, it also seems that this camera is probably a future piece of hardware looking at a date of probably around 2011 as apposed to Sonys' camera that will probably have a functional system to retail around holiday of 2010. The full realization of both devices probably won't be realized until at least 2014. This type of device seems rather unique and challenging for developers and hardware makers. Price may be a big issue with this one; but we shall see.

2. Modnation Racers for the PS3. Continuing the Create, Play, Share genre that Sony began with LittleBigPlanet. The folks over at United Front Games are coming out with Modnation Racers. A game where the player can quickly and easily create tracks, cars, and drivers; and share those things with everyone. This game is VERY important considering that this phenomena of user created content really DOES need another first class attempt and considering the guys at United Front Games seem to have taken the lessons and problems of LittleBigPlanet to heart and tried to address these in their game. I was very impressed and very excited to play this game.

3. Everyone seems to be finally listening. This is something that usually bothers me throughout the year when listening to game developers and publishers. It never seems like they are paying attention to what gamers, journalists, and even industry analysts are saying. They just seem to be doing their own thing and trying to get in under everyones' radar. But at this years' E3 everything seemed to fall into place. Everyone seemed to be doing what they needed to do to get everyone excited about their company. With the exception of no price drop for the PS3. But really, I didn't expect to see this SO FAR from the holidays.

4. Big games, lots of footage, wow I think I need a better job. God of War 3, Modern Warfare 2, DC Universe Online, the Agency, Tekken 6, Soulcalibur Broken Destiny(PSP), Scribblenauts(DS), Batman Arkham Asylum, Dragon Age Origins, Mass Effect 2, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic MMORPG, and too many others to list. SO MANY AAA games, so much wonderful content and so many incredible games on the horizon for holiday and Q4. I can't believe the quality of the games presented. Some of the games I was aware of and was aware of their quality but some of them came out of no where or made me realize that even their probably beta states that they were already SO GOOD that I HAD to play them.

In just the few examples I've given I'm sure you can see how wonderful this year's E3 was and probably if you haven't been following all the news, trailers, and walkthroughs coming out of the show you probably think I'm gushing. But I'm not really; all my statements were justified. It looks like 2009 and 2010 will probably be the best years' in gaming yet. I certainly can't wait for all the surprises to come this year and next year. It also seems that small titles like Shadow Complex for the XBOX LIVE ARCADE will probably get even more space this year and next on your gameplay slate as these shorter high quality experiences might be the beginning of the future. Now if we could just get a game like Shadow Complex that looks like Shadow Complex on a portable device. THAT would REALLY change EVERYTHING! Do you hear me Sony and Nintendo, look into that, will you. Cause after this years' E3, I KNOW your listening.

Technorati Tags: E3,E32009,videogames,videogame,consoles,sony,microsoft,nintendo,projectnatal,journalism

With the story that just was published over at IGN, it seems that XBOX 360 is also planning on having a ten year life cycle. Microsoft sites Project Natal as the reason for their optimism on the ten year plan. Sony had previously announced that their plan was to have a ten year life cycle for both the PS2 and PS3. All that is left is for Nintendo to announce that the Wii is going to have a ten year life cycle. While this seems unlikely they could certainly make minor improvements as they did with the DS and come out with a partially new similarly priced console to the current one. Perhaps an addition of hard drive, Wii Motion Plus built in, and possibly component cables packed into the box. But as the Wii is all ready under powered and is beginning to look overpriced the inevitable probably lies in some price cuts for the current system and a Wii 2 in the next couple years.

All indications both from the economy and from game developers suggest that a new console cycle would do nothing for the current hardware makers except greatly indebted them with R & D costs. With both Microsoft and Sony championing digital distribution however, it seems that there is definitely a new slimmer more powerful and cooler console coming down the line in the not so immediate future. But I honestly can't see that we will not be seeing a new console until 2015. It seems more likely that the new Sony and Microsoft consoles will have minor upgrades and be similar in price to the consoles we have now. The consoles we have now, in the mean time, there will probably have two more price cuts to the current PS3 and XBOX 360. Which will probably make it perfectly plausible for this half step forward and all most original price structure.

The new consoles would probably have built in motion sensors be they Project Natal or the new Eye Toy Motion camera. The consoles would also have solid state hard drives. Probably around 500 GB. Which is only around $100 for an external unit on the internet right now. So in a couple years they will probably be less than half that, at least for the non-solid state unit. No disc drives will be necessary as any media will come over the built in GIGA Ethernet ready port in the machines. Both will have whatever HD resolution is the maximum for the current time. When will these fantasy machines be announced? E3 2012... They will BOTH be out in Holiday of 2013. Wii will have a Wii 2 probably out in 2012, but considering the current state of the hardware in the Wii, it wouldn't be too surprising.

Of course, all most all of this is speculation but even with a lagging economy the march of technology moves forward and in some cases the current PC market is all ready cutting into the parody that exists between PC and consoles. By next year, I'm thinking that the PC will totally eclipse the power of the consoles. If this leap gets too far a head the developers will have to, too significantly dumb down their console ports and people will start to once again believe that the PC is the best device for gaming. This hasn't occurred in quite a while. Which is the reason why I think that my console strategy is more realistic than what the current hardware makers are implying.

Technorati Tags: console,sony,nintendo,microsoft,PS3,XBOX360,Wii,videogames,videogame,digitaldistribution

Gamasutra has an interesting story about Volition the makers of Red Faction Guerilla. The story is great, it basically says that the developers are counting on good word of mouth for their game to REALLY sell it. This isn't exactly the case as I've seen quite a few commercials on select networks for the game including Spike, G4, ESPN, and the CW. A similar campaign is being worked for the PS3 exclusive Infamous. While the developers of Infamous, Sucker Punch; Most famous for the Sly Cooper series have said that they will have a FULL ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN behind the game. The commercials for Infamous are airing sporadically mostly on Spike and G4. There certainly have been a few internet campaigns for the game on IGN, for instance. But this certainly doesn't seem to be a BIG PUSH as the developer was promised or is promising. The game has gotten excellent review scores across the board and currently they have a Metacritic score of 85 from 100 reviews. This tepid approach to marketing is fine when your trying to move some third tier titles like the latest movie tie in game or perhaps the latest Petz title. But introducing a new major franchise or revamping an old franchise is a little more challenging proposition.

Red Faction Guerilla certainly is a well known title in the press as they have had multiple demos and both on the multiplayer and single player fronts the game certainly has changed a great deal since they first showed it. But the game has only gotten better and it is probably going to be one my must plays of this year. Infamous has not been shown too much and the demo is wonderful. The game itself is a contender for Game of the Year. But we haven't heard much about it at all. The lackluster campaigns for both will certainly result in lower sales. And franchises that start luke warm rarely explode over time unless they are so stunningly amazing that they surprise everyone that plays it. Neither game is Bioshock, so I'm not entirely sure this is going to happen.

Neither of these games really seem to have gotten the star treatment by their publishers. Games like Halo 3, Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty 2, the Wii (video games and system), and Gears of War have all had STELLAR ad campaigns where the power of Public Relations has been brought to the fore. Rarely have games sold as much as these titles. This isn't because these games are better than all others. It's because these games were marketed better than practically any others. \Multi-tier advertising is needed to create such buzz and in effect sales. The major difference here is creativity. The Halo 3 ad campaign was one of the most unique in history. They began marketing the game as much as a year before the game was shipped and courted brand familiarity with everything from toys to specialty drinks. Certainly a publisher like THQ doesn't have the money to do such a complete campaign but Sony probably does. The lesser form of this campaign is similar to the one that Gears of War had. Beginning with a incredible catchy song in their stylized artsy trailer to their launch events that certainly got not only media attention but were taped on a Spike TV special.

All of these innovative strategies were certainly contributory to the positive buzz that these games received and introducing a new franchise like Infamous or a returning redesigned and updated franchise like Red Faction Guerilla could have used either the complete campaign or the lesser but still impacting campaign. When a developer or publisher says that they are relying on Positive Critical Acclaim to sell games. It's really hard to believe that they think that will work. After all, how many games come out with demos and good review scores and are largely ignored. If you want your game to break 800,000; you need to start marketing it as much as a year before the game comes out. Many times it can begin with an E3 announcement. There are certainly a lot of moving pieces here. But selling a lot of games these days often starts with investing in a good marketing plan.

The economy is certainly a factor in the scaled down advertising of 2009. The problem there is that the public is even harder to reach these days and requires a even more aggressive marketing initiative. Publishers are constantly complaining about launching new IPs and that it's much safer and more of a sure thing to stick with sequels or known brands. If your going to handle the marketing the way Sony has for Infamous then perhaps they are correct. This has been their horrible track record all along. From Uncharted Drake's Fortune to Resistance Fall of Man to Infamous. Sony as a publisher just doesn't seem interested in marketing anything aggressively except maybe their console. Even then, the cost of the console seems to demand a little more consistent campaign than we have seen from Sony.

Hopefully Red Faction Guerilla will indeed beat the odds and sell over a million copies in its first week. With two demos and the wide commercial coverage the game has more visibility than most. But to rely on these factors, as I've already stated is dangerous.

Infamous continues to sell based on the excellent reviews; however Sony isn't helping matters by hardly ever discussing the game. Infamous made a short showcase mention in the E3 2009 Sony Press Conference but outside of this venue Sony has largely ignored what is probably the second of the publishers games of the year(Uncharted Among Thieves is the other). Marketing is the most important of any games' sales strategy and this year for the reasons I've already stated or others unknown to the general public it seems that companies would rather rest on their laurels than sell as many copies as they possibly can.

Technorati Tags: consoles,sony,microsoft,volition,PS3,XBOX360,gamasutra,journalism,PR,sales,adcampaign,Wii,Nintendo,E3,E32009,Redfactionguerilla,Naughtydog

OK, sorry did I miss this? I haven't rewound my recording of the show; maybe I was looking away or something. But here you go a release date for God of War III

Technorati Tags: godofwar3,sony,PS3,godofwar,E3,E32009

So it seems kind of early for a sequel to Left 4 Dead, but hey I'm not complaining...

Technorati Tags: Valve,Left4dead2,Left4dead,Steam,XBOX360,PC,pcgaming,neworleans

This is the reason I pre-ordered the PC version today!

Technorati Tags: dragonageorigins,E3,E32009,videogames,consoles,PS3,XBOX360,microsoft,sony,PC,RPG,Bioware

So if you have a code from Qore, Infamous, Fileplanet, or a press code. Go over and activate that sucker and get playing! There certainly aren't a shortage of players, so don't worry about being alone in matchmaking.

As you can see I was playing a little. I'm rank 6, which isn't a big thing I've seen all the way to rank 8. Which is pretty amazing because the Beta has been live that long. So currently and I'm guessing for the balance of the beta. There will be only one mode open and that is Matchmaking. This allows you to play in ranked matches on two maps. One is the Village a run down Tibetan type area that has some good vertical structures to snipe from and the Plaza a more urban area similar to something you might see in China or Italy. They also have some vertical structures in the Plaza but nothing I've found too useful yet. In these two maps you get the choice of two modes. Regular Team Deathmatch or a mode called Plunder. Plunder consists of two teams and each is trying to grab a large piece of plunder and throw it into their base. You can only use a pistol while your carrying it and really only the points you receive as a team are those you earn by scoring a capture on the plunder.

You do level up as you earn medals or capture plunder or kill the enemy plunder carrier. Getting from level 1-6 took me around an hour and half. But I had some terrible games and some awesome games. Everything depends on your team and their ability. People who have played before are usually better than those who have not and sometimes you can be the highest ranked player on your team and everyone else is rank 1. As you level up you get access to more boosts which are enhancements to your characters ability like more ammo or better accuracy with rifles. But they don't seem to really change too much from 1-6 which might a little bit of an issue. Some people may feel that if they don't start when everyone else does they will get whaled on by the pros. I think that could be a concern although none of the boosts I've seen so far are really game changers. They are nice to have but don't seem necessary.

Everything works incredibly well and it's REALLY HARD to believe this is a Beta and not the final product. There don't seem to be ANY balance issues and the animations are pretty incredible. The shooting itself is excellent and the ability to use scopes on 2 out of the 5 regular rifles is really awesome. I can't wait to see more maps and if there are more possible character skins for both heroes and villains(each team is put either into heroes or villains and you get to pick a skin for each).

I didn't take any pictures of gameplay as it probably would have been blurry taking it off screen. So it looks EXACTLY like the single player so don't worry no graphical shortcuts were taken to make the multiplayer silky smooth. Naughty Dog has DONE IT AGAIN! Awesome BETA!

Technorati Tags: uncharted,uncharted2,amongthieves,Sony,PS3,videogames,beta,shooter,treasure,naughtydog

Essentially the story of Brink revolves around civil unrest of the people who live near the Ark. This certainly comes out in the trailer.

This game has some kind of multiplayer and co-op components. Considering this is Bethesda; I'm guessing this means there is more to this than a Shadowrun style run and gun with magic or something. Probably some heavy RPG elements mixed with Splash Damage's FPS components.

Keep an eye on Brinkthegame.com for more information.

Update:

"

When you think Bethesda, you think sprawling role-playing games, open worlds full of quests, and monsters, and orchestral scores. You do not think of fast-paced RPG shooters.

Yeah, RPG shooters. That blend elements of single player FPS games, multiplayer deathmatchers and more than a few roleplaying customs as well. If that sounds confusing to read, don't worry, it is. It's such a unique cocktail of styles and influences that, having seen the game demoed earlier today, I'm having a little trouble getting my head around it myself.

But if you think Team Fortress 2, Mirror's Edge and Fallout 3, you'll be getting there.

Basically, Brink - from developers Splash Damage - is an FPS. With a few changes to the normal routine. Like Mirror's Edge, there's an element of parkour to proceedings, with fast runs and climbs able to be strung together. Interestingly, the devs have added an "autopilot" function to movement: point the cursor at a point on the map, hold down a button and you'll perform the necessary moves (jumps, slides, etc) to get there. And if there's danger in the way - like a camera - the player will smartly vault over or slide under it.

Gameplay is largely an objective-based multiplayer shooter. You and your teammates start at one end of a map and have to fight your way to the other end, satisfying a number of objectives along the way like clearing barricades, repairing technology, etc."

"Only you can play this alone. Because you have AI teammates, and the game is objective-based, you can play the whole thing as a single player title, working your way through a series of missions set amidst the last outpost of human civilization following a global catastrophe.

But then, you can also play it with friends. Again, because of the nature of the level progression, real players can jump in and take the place of not only AI teammates, but AI opponents as well. And it doesn't change a thing, as the demo we saw seamlessly alternated between single player sequences and moments involving several human teammates.

And all the while you're doing this, there are RPG elements at play. At the start of the game, you're able to create a custom character, which you then level up with every enemy you kill and every objective you complete (trickier objectives earning you more XP). New XP is able to be cashed in for new outfits, as well as mid-game "class" changes."

"Like many online shooters (for example Team Fortress 2), players are able to select a "class" for their character. Soldier, engineer, heavy, etc. But you can cash in some XP to change class mid-game, should you want to switch things up, and doing so presents you with an all-new toolset, and all-new objectives tailored towards your new class.

Throw in the fact the game is already looking gorgeous, and it all sounds like an innovative take on a genre these guys already specializes in (Splash Damage having got famous off the amazing Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory). Certainly one of the fresher titles I've seen at the show so far."Kotaku....(some spelling and grammar errors were corrected for republished copy)

Sounds amazing, can't wait to try it.

Technorati Tags: E3,E32009,consoles,videogames,PS3,XBox360,microsoft,Sony,PC,shooter,splashdamage,Bethesda,Fallout

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Monday, June 29, 2009

Friday, June 26, 2009

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Monday, June 22, 2009

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Friday, June 19, 2009

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Monday, June 15, 2009

Friday, June 12, 2009

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Friday, June 5, 2009

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Tuesday, June 2, 2009