Archive for January, 2009:
SEGA Looking To Corner The ‘Core’ Market
There are a few publishers, and developers I’ve really taken a notice to this past year. The first is Capcom. They’ve really taken their company to a whole new level compared to recent years past. Which is quite a feat, considering the state of the economy. Going into 2009, Capcom is releasing two brand new games based on their current running franchises (Resident Evil, and Street Fighter).
The other developer I’m watching keenly is SEGA. With what I consider four major releases in the first half of 2009, SEGA looks poised to have a strong year. MadWorld, The Conduit, Sonic & The Black Knight, and House of the Dead: Overkill are all releasing on the Wii under the SEGA name.
Tags: SEGA
Wii game - Marble Saga Kororinpa Preview
I’ve heard of the Kororinpa games, but will have to tell you that I’ve never sat down and actually played one. That will all change, as Hudson was kind enough to send some preview materials, plus a demo of their latest game, Marble Saga Kororinpa.
After reading the synopsis of the plot, I must say I’m intrigued if a little scared. The game follows the adventures of Anthony the Ant as he sets out on his journey to find the ‘Golden Flower’. As the story unfolds, you gather items essential to progressing. There will be around 40 of these items, including shrinking machines, movable bridges, vacuum tubes, and cannon vaults.
If you’ve never played a game like Kororinpa it’s a puzzle game much in the same spirit as the Super Monkey Ball games. It’s played by tilting the game world as you navigate a marble through various stages. The stages’ difficulty increases, as more obstacles are thrown at you.
We are NOT one, Sony.
I would like to dedicate this article to the certification process of SCE and regions.
When I first bought my PS3, I loved the idea that because of Blu-Ray, much like the PSP I could import games and play them on the PS3.
Then the PSN Store problems began…
The UK despite having English as its primary language (minus Welsh) I can’t understand why SCE insists on us being in the EU store.
First of all, I must explain I have nothing against any other nation in Europe, this is not a complaint due to the certification process counting the whole of Europe.
This a the complaint of waiting for a ‘translation’ of a language the UK actually created and has been adapted the other side of the ocean .
What I’m getting at is I speak and read English. Although, because of a few spellings such as ‘Colour’ and ‘Defence’ I am left waiting MONTHS for some PSN games.
I was left waiting ages for PAIN in the EU store because of all the other EU languages being compiled into the game. Novastrike only arrived last Oct, SSFT2:HD hasn’t arrived yet and I really want Cuboid.
Thank god the delay for Bionic Commando: Rearmed was only one day or this whole ordeal would of got a LOT worse.
Tags: Sony
The most overrated game…
Lately, ever since I changed my avatar, I been getting neg’ed out alot. It seems many people dislike this franchise as a whole. GTA3 had set a standard as how a open-world game should look like. Then comes Vice City with its 80’s and Scarface look. Then comes San Andreas with its 90s and NWA style. Then the game that everyone hates: Grand Theft Auto IV. I really don’t understand why people hate this game. I said it over and over again. It doesn’t have a jetpack, it doesn’t have an airplane, it doesn’t have a chainsaw. Rockstar took a serious approach with this.
Tags: overrated game
Why so little PS3 love?
Okay just so you know, I owned a Wii since day 1 and just recently got the Xbox360 but I was interested in getting the PS3 (it was between that and the 360) and I decided against the PS3, for now.
My blog is mostly about the support that PS3 is getting from some of the Devs out there. I am mainly looking at multiplatform games such as GTA 4 and Orange Box to name 2. GTA on the Xbox is getting the LOST AND DAMNED expansion, the PS3 gets nothing. Orange Box got bug fixes and small updates on the 360 and PS3 kinda got shafted by EA, hell it was weird that Valve refused to do it themsleves. Personally I love the games that Valve makes and I still have to get LEFT FOR DEAD probably for the Xbox. I have Orange box on the PC because i found it was so much better then PS3 and Xbox (I love TF2). Another game that seems to be left out of the PS3 train is FALLOUT3. I was watching XPLAY and it was mentioned that the PC and 360 are getting a new expansion but nothing in the news for the PS3.
Also when it comes to timed Exclusives, it seems that the 360 gets them all. If Left For Dead was a timed exclusive then it shows my point exactly. I don’t see many games that are available on the PS3 before the Xbox. I do want to be proven wrong but it seems like the Xbox is doing much better in terms of supporting their gamers, Sure you pay for LIVE service but it is phenomenal, even i was surprised how good it was and i was very skeptical. The fact i can CHOOSE to instal games to harddive also makes it that much better since i don’t have to do mandatory instals. I did instal a few games to make the load time faster and 1 game cause the DVD was a bit scratched and that solved that problem.
Tags: PS3
PCs vs. Consoles: The Need for Integration
Ever since we all fired up our first NES console, we have been hooked. Then, a succession of great consoles came out: Genesis and Dreamcast, 64 and Gamecube, Playstations 1 and 2. Then Xbox and Halo came out and even the jocks stopped chest bumping long enough to play. Finally, out came the Wii, 360, and PS3. And here we sit, an entire society on video games.
Remember - some of you young guns may have missed this - when your teacher told you that in high school and college you would need to either type your papers on a typewriter or write in cursive? Then you got your first computer, and you realized that they were wrong. We all (except some kiddies) saw Al Gore invent the internet and we stumbled into a new era in which each of us slowly realized our full potential by flaming others on forums and playing video games online. Starcraft, Counter-Strike, Everquest, and World of Warcraft, just to name a few larger titles. God how we loved our ever-evolving complexities and interrelations between our internet and gaming avatars and the world around us.
Now, disparate, these two worlds stand apart. Our computers sit idle as we game on our consoles, and our consoles lie lonely near our TVs, gathering dust when we use our PCs. Even worse, we the gamers ignite tensions over which is better for gaming: the PC or the Console? I ask a deeper question, what the hell is the difference anymore? In a time when we can surf the internet on our PS3; communicate with our friends on our wireless mics through the 360; exercise with our Wiis; and yes, game on our personal computers, why the hell are we fighting over which is better at what? I had a discussion with a friend over this very topic and it sparked the flame for this little piece.
When we play each individual system, or PC, how many processors stand idle? In an ever increasing reliance on technology and information to drive the economy, it seems backward to let these power sinks (you know you don’t unplug them from the outlet when you aren’t playing) waste away while you spend your time on other devices. Even more importantly, with current research requiring more and more processing to complete, it seems a crime to let these units get breaks of more than weeks at a time. Come on, you know you haven’t fired up your Wii since the bowling got boring At least my room-mates and I haven’t. I still do all my working out analog.
Get your DLC out of my Game
Well, kinda-sorta. Lets face it, since the PS2 came on to the scene and had games requiring hard drives, DLC or it’s equivalents have been on the scene and driving hard into the minds and wallets of gamers. Now you’re probably thinking or going to call me on expansion packs, but that’s a different ball game together which I will tackle later.
So about this DLC thing and why I’m not liking it too much, basically, because in many ways it’s beginning to cheapen gaming. It’s beginning to give this impression that games are in the most part incomplete and you’re now missing out on the complete experience. Lets take Fallout 3 as an example and we’ll compare it to Oblivion.
Now if you don’t know, as is Fallout 3 took the WoW stance on leveling and has levels capped at 20 (and it’s not very hard to hit that cap). Now when I was playing Fallout and didn’t know about this cap, it was a shock and disappointment, I felt that many avenues were suddenly closed to me and further more that decisions I made earlier were mistakes that would hamper my playing now. It’s not impossible to max-out some stats when you hit the cap, it’s just tedious. Oblivion on the other hand, it took hours and days to max out level skills / player level. Further more the new DLC didn’t lift said cap. Knights of the Nine and Shivering isles were a good expansions, but not requirements to enhance the experience of the original Oblivion.
Tags: DLC
How Gamers Can Leverage RSS
Surprisingly many gamers either aren’t aware of RSS or don’t understand the value of RSS. In order to rectify this problem I decided to create a post that not only explains RSS but demonstrates its power. I feel that once gamers recognize it’s power they’ll be subscribing to sites like N4G.
What is RSS?
Lets begin with a definition of RSS:
RSS (Rich Site Summary) is a format for delivering regularly changing web content. Many news-related sites, weblogs and other online publishers syndicate their content as an RSS Feed to whoever wants it.
Mirror’s Edge: Reviewing the Experience
Mirror’s Edge is an awesome game. However, it is not for everyone. It is frustrating, challenging and if you are the type that gets motion sickness or is afraid of heights….. you may want to avoid it. Which is unfortunate, because it really is a fun game to play.
Numerous reviews have gone into great detail about the graphics, sound, etc and there’s a demo available for download, so I’m not going to talk much about those.
The core of the gameplay is running. You are almost constantly on the move. The controls handle beautifully and with just a short tutorial, you can learn all of the tricks of the trade to get you going. You’ll start out botching simple jumps and wall runs, failing disarms and falling to your death numerous times….. but soon you’ll start to learn and master the techniques and by the time you get through the game, you’ll be pulling off amazing acrobatics with ease and wonder how you had so much trouble with some of the moves.
Nintendo Did Grow Up With Us!
OK, I have read several articles that insult the Wii. I am not a complete fanboy (a half fanboy allright. I like Nintendo). I am here to defend this system and to help out the other systems. This is my defense.
First of all the Wii has great games. Games don’t have to be gritty and bloody FPS games in order to be hardcore. Any game that is fun to play and is addicting is hardcore. A hardcore gamer puts passion and effort into their games. A casual gamer plays them when they are bored. The Wii has great games. Here is a list of some of them:
1. Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Tags: Nintendo