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Professional Gaming – Keep Reaching for that Rainbow!

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I’m pretty sure there are others like me who look at professional gaming and shake their heads. Not in a “lol golf is not a sport!” way, but in a “you kids have no idea how sports work, do you?” way. Looking at some of the drama behind the World Cyber Games and their woes with Command and Conquer 3, I still haven’t changed my opinion on the matter.

The article is long, but here’s the synopsis: The Cyber Games (or rather EA) are picking the best CnC players through invites to the highest ranked players. Some feel this is a problem because some of the players are ranked artificially high due to disconnecting from a bad match, and many of the most effective strategies won’t be usable in the Cyber Games when the new patch hits. →  Read the rest

You down with DLC (Yeah you kno’ me!)

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Some rumblings from Valve promising that they won’t charge for extra content in their future games. I’m still trying to figure out what this means, or rather, what importance this has. New maps were provided for Team Fortress Classic by Valve in the past, and Half Life Deathmatch was a gift as well. All this announcement does is confirm they’re the same thing as always.

Or is it? Many gamers have mocked the announcement as being a bunch of baloney, pointing out that Epic said the same thing about Gears of War before Microsoft twisted their arm to twist our arms. Maybe Valve is afraid the same will occur to them. I’m also skeptical about whether this will actually hold true simply because of Valve’s practices over the years. →  Read the rest

Virtual Console Previews/Reviews – Week of May 20th

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Wii Virtual Console:

Streets of Rage 2 (Genesis): One of my favorite games of all time. So simple, yet so amazingly fun … and a great soundtrack, too. I’m still amazed that they can get music that intricate from a console less powerful than my phone. Same-screen co-op makes this game even more fun with a friend. A no-brainer in my opinion, unless you have that Sega classics disc for the Dreamcast.
The Grand Uppercut … the henchman’s most feared foe.

DK Country 2: Diddy Kong’s Quest(SNES): I was never a big fan of the DK series (except for the original), so I’ve never really played more than a few minutes of either DK Country games. They looked great for the time, but the gameplay felt a little sloppy to me. →  Read the rest

Would the Wii be as successful without Wii Sports?

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After hearing how successful the Wii has become in the last few months (which is unbelievable for a Nintendo fanboy such as myself), I’ve been trying to figure out why. I mean, it’s Nintendo we’re talking about. They’ve been in third place for some time now, but to see a such turn-around in that short amount of time is literally awe-inspiring.
Wii Sports: the most expensive game on the market.

But how? How has Nintendo gone from the little unknown guy to the one that has captured even your grandma’s heart? That question is easily answered with one thing: Wii Sports. This little piece of software is the main reason why the Wii is so successful, if at all. It’s a game where anyone can play without any inhibition. People like my mom would shy away from video games, but when it comes to Wii Sports, she’s right there beside me, trying to figure out every nuance the game has. →  Read the rest

Gears of Warrghh

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I spent this past weekend post graduation at my friend’s house waiting for a Monday job interview. This of course means that Sunday night was a rare chance for me to play some 360, and this time there was only one choice as to what I was pulling off his his bookshelf; Gears of War.

What I played of the game was pretty fun – I think – but that’s not what I’m here to discuss. The thing on my mind is page one of the instruction manual. You probably don’t know what I’m talking about, even if you own the game (no one reads manuals but me right?), but it contains an introduction to the game by Cliffy B. He goes on about how it has great AI and physics and graphics, but mostly discusses what he did to create a truly “next-generation” game. →  Read the rest

An even more Smashingly little amount of information to Brawl about: Music

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Recently, the Smash Bros Dojo has opened its doors officially. Though much of the information is not new, updates are guaranteed to be coming every weekday from Masahiro Sakurai himself!
Unlikely to be the last surprise waiting for us inside a box.

Most of the information is stuff any fan of the games would know by now – such as how to play or information about the one stage that has been revealed.

However… if you look at “Music” there is a list of composers that is nothing short of formidable. Absolutely amazing.

The list itself gives examples of games the composers worked on, which is helpful for several names I didn’t recognize. Let’s take a look.

The usual suspects:

  • Koji Kondo
  • Masaaki Iwasaki
  • Minako Hamano
  • Shogo Sakai
  • Toru Minegishi
  • Yuka Tsujiyoko
  • Hajime Wakai

These are all composers who worked on several Nintendo games in the past or recently worked on big-name Nintendo games. →  Read the rest

Best Buy needs a better selection

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Tonight I scoured the earth for a copy of Etrian Odyssey. A painfully difficult game with music by Yuzo Koshiro sounds like heaven to me. Apparently, Best Buy thinks it sounds like a nerdy Japanese RPG doomed to rot on the shelves. I was hurt that the store didn’t carry the game, but what they do carry is infinitely more infuriating.

Cars…OK, maybe the movie was cute.

Cake mania…I guess it’s some flash game, whatever.

Bratz: Diamondz…No, there is never a reason to stock this game. If you buy your children Bratz merchandise do the world a favor and smother them while they sleep.

Dogz…Nintendogs ripoff meant to take advantage of stupid children and ignorant parents, fine.

Horsez…Nintendogs ripoff meant to take advantage of stupid children and ignorant parents who cannot tell the difference between a dog and a horse, fine. →  Read the rest

Paranoid Identity Crisis!

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Fanboys unite! Constant squabbles echo among Nintendo, Sony, and Xbox loyalists, but the real battle is elsewhere. It’s a battle between the different ways people choose to spend their free time and their extra dollars. Games are a big and growing part of this battle and they have taken a bite out of that tasty aged 18-34 male demographic. Can games hold onto it? Do they even want to?

Nintendo has set itself the challenge of trying to hold onto some of gaming’s biggest loyalists while making appeals to nontraditional audiences like retirees. And it’s well known that Sony and Microsoft have had their eyes on a bigger prize ever since they stepped in the ring. They both want to eventually establish their brands and platforms for the mythical must-have TV set-top box. →  Read the rest

Gamers Want Everything, but don’t want to pay for it

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A leak from the price testing of Rock Band fills gamers with shock and awe on two points:

1. Rock Band’s peripherals are expensive
2. Gamers don’t like paying for expensive stuff and in fact want everything free

Being a jew, after hearing Rock Band announced, I had two reactions–this game would be awesome, and many peripherals would be expensive. Seeing as guitars for guitar hero are rapacious in price (my wallet cries “my anus!”), and extra microphones for karaoke revolution aren’t exactly free either, it’s no surprise that a game with a microphone, two guitars, and a DRUM SET is clocking in at a lot of money. The drum set in particular scared me, since the congas from Donkey Conga (or however it’s spelled) weren’t exactly cheap. Making a larger drum set that is convincing and fun to use is not going to clock in inexpensive. →  Read the rest

Capcom hates smear campaigns

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This interesting piece of news is from Colin Campbell’s editor blog on Next-Gen.biz, in which he talks about a particular fear that Capcom has in doing normal day-to-day business in the video game industry. And it’s not something that anyone would have expected.

Basically, Capcom is worried that the sales of their games that have “explicit violence or gore” will be impacted negatively by what the mass media has to say about them, concerning the much debated topic of violence in video games and what it may do to young players. Capcom believes they could be on the receiving end of a smear campaign with these kinds of games.

From a business standpoint, it seems logical. If they make a game that can be construed as a “murder simulator”, then the press might get ahold of it and give Capcom some bad publicity. →  Read the rest

Better than a full day of sex: Deus Ex being revitalized

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During a recent interview with Quebec’s MusiquePlus, Eidos France’s director general Patrick Melichor revealed that they’re planning to revisit the Deus Ex series with a new installment that will be developed by Eidos’ newly-formed Montreal studio. It isn’t official, but they’re very close to getting it approved. They’re basically just waiting for the go-ahead.

As a loyal Deus Ex fan, this is a great announcement. I loved the original Deus Ex for the PC, but felt a little betrayed when Eidos seemed to give PC players the finger by releasing a bug-ridden Invisible War and telling us to “just play the Xbox version.” Yeah, I was inconsolable for days after that one.

For the uninformed, and therefore stupid, Deus Ex was a FPS/RPG hybrid set in a futuristic cyberpunk society that is on the verge of an outbreak of a deadly disease. →  Read the rest

Virtual Console Previews/Reviews – Week of May 14th

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Wii Virtual Console:

Ninja Gaiden (NES): Play as Ryu Hayabusa, a ninja warrior who embarks on a quest to avenge his father’s death. A classic, albeit frustrating game. I would hope that unlimited lives are included in this version as dying repeatedly because of wonky wall-jumping mechanics would bring back too many traumatizing memories.

Ninja Spirit (TurboGrafix): Play as Moonlight, a ninja warrior who embarks on a quest to avenge … his father’s … death … wait a minute! So yeah, expect more of the same here but with better graphics.
I pitty the fool who plays Battletoads!

Pac-Man (NES): I don’t think I need to say much about this one.

XBox Live Arcade:

Double Dragon: With new and improved graphics but the same gameplay you know and love. A great game that got a much needed facelift, plus it allows for two players on the same screen or over Live. →  Read the rest

Fucking Finally – PSP to have iTunes-like Store

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It’s taken Sony two years to finally figure out that there’s gold in them thar downloadable content hills. Sony revealed this week at their Gamers Day conference that they are now actively planning a PSP Store, an online marketplace where handheld users can download multimedia content to their PSP’s.
Matt’s fluorescent beauty.

The real deal that users are getting will probably come in the form of downloadable video content, which is basically non-existent right now. iTunes holds the majority stake for all kinds of content right now, but Sony looks to compete with them in supplying movies, music, and possibly games on their PSP Store. Of course, this is all just speculation, as nothing has been officially announced, other than that Sony will have a store where you can download stuff. →  Read the rest

Dragon Quest IX no longer has internet multiplayer

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In yet another disappointment to fans, it has been announced recently that Dragon Quest IX will not have internet multiplayer as originally advertised. This comes after the clarification of the battle system that revealed it was the age-old Dragon Quest system with few changes.

The beanbag chair that stares back at you.

The game will still have wireless local multiplayer, for what it’s worth. This is particularly disappointing to me. Since I’m graduating from college soon, DSes will no longer be a common sight to me, and chances of finding people to play with might be a bit slim. Internet multiplayer would be much nicer, particularly if I could play with friends in other places. Even if I know Jay would probably just grief me every chance he gets.

Hopefully, though, this is the last negative announcement as regards Dragon Quest IX. →  Read the rest

What are you blind, Halo 3 looks like shit

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I just love how mainstream media can tear our little industry a new one with their annoying, but effective “gatekeepers of information” mantra. Apparently reporters for the powerful Reuters news service were on hand for the private unveiling of Microsoft’s Halo 3 beta on Friday, and they immediately went for the graphics jugular with their story.

Third sentence in, “the graphics could use some work.” Now, I don’t argue that fact (which was quoted from a journalist from evilavatar). If we compare all the footage and screenshots for Halo 3 that have officially, as well as unofficially, been revealed to the public, with last year’s Gears of War, we wouldn’t be wrong in saying it looks like complete shit. It’s like they took Halo 2, and just spruced up the textures. →  Read the rest

Weekend Wreckage: Cho Ren Sha

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shawsome.jpg

What are you doing this weekend? Wrapping your face over an advanced warfighter? Getting ob-trapped in Gears? Maybe a bit of the old ‘running around flipside trying to find a heart pillar for 18 hours’ business?

Maybe you’ve got It in your head that, much like Uno before it, settling Catan will be that much cooler on your plasma.

You may be right, to be sure. I, too, have settled myself some Catan. I’m a regular Catan colonization specialist. I think being me, and settling Catan, nets an achievement on xBox Live. I think I have that one, and I think it is because I’ve settled Catan.

But this weekend, as I do every third weekend of every month of every year on this island Earth, I will be playing Cho Ren Sha. →  Read the rest

Mass Fatigue

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Mass Effect may have close to a 400,000 words in its script.

Hoo boy.

I’m probably the only person who looks at this game and says “what fucking waste”. There is absolutely no reason for that much wordiness in a game. Did they think I came to their game to read four – five novels worth of text? This is the kind of stuff that drives me nuts, because people always seem to encourage them. I could deal with the dialogue in Planescape: Torment, because it was good and I read it at my own pace. Then Knights of the Old Republic came around, and Bioware wasted thousands of words, because I didn’t listen to a word of the excruciatingly slow spoken dialogue. I can only see Mass Effect getting even worse than that. →  Read the rest

More SNK VC ponderings

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I think it’s official that when SNK finally brings the Neo Geo goodness to the Wii Virtual Console, they have no excuse if some of their prime games don’t come out early. In an absolute explosion of Neo goodness, Gametap has a killer list of games coming down the pipleline, thanks to whatever massive effort they’re undertaking with the service. As of today you can play Metal Slug 1 and King of Fighters 94, but after that they’ll also be getting every Metal Slug up to 5, and every KOF up to 2003. In addition, they’ll be hosting the first two Art of Fightings, the first two Samurai Showdowns, the original Fatal Fury, and The Last Blade.

These are some of the best fighters on the system, and I’m absolutely stoked for them. →  Read the rest

Rumor Factory: Music Downloads on Wii?

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If you’ve been keeping up to date with your voting on the Everybody Votes Channel on the Wii (which you should be, btw), then you have seen a particularly interesting question that Nintendo is asking all of its American users:

“How do you prefer to buy music?”

The possible choices Nintendo has supplied are a) download or b) CD. Now, this can just be labeled as a seemingly innocuous question that tries to get more users to vote on the channel, but what if this were the first indication that Nintendo might be in the planning phases for a Music Download Channel, something akin to Apple’s iTunes store?

The Everybody Votes Channel is the perfect venue for Nintendo to better understand its customers, as well as to test out any ideas it has up its sleeve for the future. →  Read the rest

Soul Calibur Adventure

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News today of a new action-adventure Soul Calibur game on the Wii. Very few details on it of course, but this pleases me nevertheless. I was devastated to see how messed up Soul Calibur 3 became because of the silly story segments and tactical-adventure nonsense they tried to cram down our throats. I would have loved to play with a sweet custom character, but not if it meant wading through ten hours of castle sieges, or losing twenty rounds in Tales of Souls so I could unlock twelve different capes in the shop (why the game unlocks things for losing, I do not know).

Of course, this new game doesn’t mean that an eventual Soul Calibur 4 won’t behave like 3, but I’m willing to guess that Namco realized they were trying to do two separate things in one game, and that this spinoff series will allow them to keep the adventure and story separate from the pure fighting.