Less than a week until Rogue Galaxy!

So after reading some of the initial reactions to Rogue Galaxy I was a little worried, mostly by the way the game was described as "feeling like an MMORPG." Not that I am outrightly attacking MMORPGs, but they aren't what I desire from my single-player experiences. I want compelling storylines, interesting characters, and exciting battle systems from my RPGs, not just a vast world to explore and approximately 1,545,457 quests in which to partake. After reading some of the early reviews however, I feel that I can safely put my fears to rest, and there are three reasons why:

1. The game is made by Level 5. I LOVE Level 5. Dragon Quest VIII and Dark Cloud 2 were amazing experiences that oozed production values and storyline even while you were slogging through the latest dungeon. I am sure that Rogue Galaxy has been polished to such a mirror finish that even if the story is "predictable" it will still be an engaging and enjoyable experience. Add to that all the interesting weapon development, character development, and item factory systems along with the Insectron tournament (largely considered a game unto itself) and you've got a lot of interesting content to look forward to.
2. GameSpot described the game as an anime Star Wars. I don't think I really need to belabor this point: Anime = awesome, Star Wars = awesome, Anime + Star Wars = super awesome. 'Nuff said.
3. When you load your game you are given a summary of what's going on. I don't understand why this isn't more common, especially as the average length of games continues to increase (or at least polarize). Every game that can't be played over the course of a couple days should have some system of tracking your adventures: a journal, an loading update, the ability to watch previous cutscenes. I requires virtually no extra effort on the part of the developers and allows more casual gamers (like myself) to enjoy these extended experiences without having to dedicate all our free time to it. I applaud you Level 5, I applaud you.

There's certainly a lot more to like about Rogue Galaxy than just what I have listed here, but these are the points that have me sold without knowing anything more about the game's characters, storyline, or battle system. Including what I know about those points, I think it's pretty obvious that I am very excited about the game's imminent release.

And you should be too.

Re: Save Kairi...

Incognito,

You might also know her as the tomboy coach's daughter in Remember the Titans or of course as Britney from that sequel near and dear to all our hearts: Bring it On: All or Nothing.

Check here for more.

Save Kairi, save the world

I've been watching Heroes over the past couple of days, and I couldn't shake the feeling that I had seen Claire before. Well, it turns out that I hadn't seen her before, I heard her. She's the voice of Kairi, from Kingdom Hearts. This has been bugging me since Sunday, and now my mind can finally be at ease.

Re: The Traveling Gamer

Kitten, hope you are enjoying your trip. In answer to your question, if I am going on vacation, I am only likely to take my PSP. Quite frankly, my PSP gets 80% of its play when I'm away from home, so I guess I use it as one of my main sources of trip entertainment.

This calculus changes a bit if, for instance, I'm visiting geographically distant relatives. When that's the case I still bring my PSP, but I will also usually bring some mechanism to bring over the larger console experience. Whether that is simply a memory card, or the whole system packed in a backpack depends on what kind of set up the relative has. The more the relative has the less I need to bring. As you can tell I very rarely go anywhere without some form of electronic entertainment.

Mark your calendars

February 20th: Crackdown hits a store near you!

Well, the Crackdown demo finally went on Marketplace today, after being delayed for 5 days to some licensing issues, or whatever. It was well worth the wait. Do yourself a favor and go download it now (and I mean now, it's 1.24 gigs so it'll take a while).

You get access to half of one of the three islands in the game to roam around in and fight crime. You'll have plenty of time to explore, since the demo is long. It lasts for 30 minutes after you get one of your five traits up two levels. For me, this demo was well over an hour long.

3 initial impressions:
1. At first, I thought that the targeting system was stupid. Then I realized how easy it was to shoot someone in the leg, then walk up and shoot them in the head when they were down. That won me over pretty quick, but some people will probably still hate it.
2. Colors! In a 360 game! ZOMG! No, really, I love the comic-book-esqe art style.
3. Jumping from rooftop to rooftop rules. I could do it all day. I only got into approximately 3 vehicles, I was having so much fun moving around on foot.

I need to play it again to see how co-op is, and because I felt like I didn't rip off and throw enough car doors.

Re: Re: The Answer is...

My opinion on achievements and the gamerscore is decidedly split. On one hand, I really like achievements in the single-player/co-op parts of a game. They give me a little motivation to press on and attempt things that I normally would have just passed by, which can lead to hours of extra enjoyment from a game. Plus, when I reach my goal, I get something that I can proudly show to my friends that says, "I did this!"

On the other hand, I'm not a huge fan of multiplayer achievements. I think that the motivation for playing online should come from a desire to test your mettle against wily human competition. However, when you add achievements to the mix, you end up with a lot of people playing only for the achievement, which sucks since they are changing their play style in an attempt to make more kills with the pistol, or whatever to achievement requires. This means that they are handicapping themselves in an attempt to achieve a few measly points for their gamerscore, and I for one an insulted by it. It's like they see me as not worthy of their full effort.

The bottom line is: even though Live is the best online system of the consoles, it's not perfect. It seems like some people (Microsoft) forget this sometimes. I think it's only a matter of time before the people at Sony pull their heads out of their collective asses and realizes that Live is not the perfect, untoppable online platform that people make it out to be.

The Traveling Gamer

Hello Gamers and Gamegals. This week I am traveling and I was just wondering if anyone plays games while they travel and if so, what? Do you take your PSP or do you simply pack up a couple of games? Being a computer gamer myself (for the most part), I take my laptop, but I sure don't like playing games with the built-in touchpad. A real mouse is much better. Who has some advice for me???

Re: The answer is...

"...because, of course, your Gamerscore is some measure of your worth as a gamer and thus a person."

Avenger and Incognito, I think this is an excellent time to discuss with you what your feelings are with respect to the vaunted gamerscore. What most thought would be nothing more than a novelty of the Xbox 360 has, in my experience, become something else. As Avenger notes, the action by Microsoft (or the game developers, it gets a little unclear as to who is pulling the strings on this point) to limit Achievments to Ranked Match participants (which, by the way, can't be played with friends unless by happenstance) would seem to be fueled by the notion that there are those that would game the system to gain acheivements both in-game (badges, medals, and the like) and for gamerscore.

There are almost innumerable problems with this system. The most obvious, of course, is why anyone would want to play video games with people that aren't fun to play with. Why is Halo 2 the most popular multiplayer game in existence (excluding MMO's like WOW, of course)? I would argue its because of a Bungie invention called the couch. For those of you that haven't played much Halo 2, the "couch" is essentially a group of people that move through the interface together. That is, you and your six buddies become linked and will stay together no matter what options the couch leader picks. Want to play 7 v. 7? You'll play together. Want to Play CTF? Want to Play Deathmatch? With vehicles? Without? You'll stay together. And thus camaraderie is born.

In the "Ranked Matches/No Friends" system, not only can you not play with friends, Microsoft (or other powers that be) won't let you play with the same group more than once. This is the antithesis of the couch, arguably the most successful multiplayer system ever. Not only does this prevent camaraderie of any kind, it also forces the player out to a menu between matches. For games that can take only 5 minutes to play a "round" this means that the player will spend as much time finding a match as playing it. This is unacceptable.

And why? To prevent people from "cheating"? As Avenger says, who cares, "their dead in side." Do real gamers actually care that there might be cheaters? Is that concern worth eliminating the ability to play with friends (or at the very list with the same core group)? Seems like using a cannon to kill a fly to me. And the collateral damage is devastating. Your thoughts?

The answer is...

be mad at the Microsoft, or whoever decided that player matches don't count or that you can't play with your friends in ranked matches, but also at the gamers that make such a situation "necessary."

For the most part, gamers want to play with their friends, even if they are just people in their WoW guild or the writers of Penny Arcade. It makes no sense that if you want achievements you have to be matched with however XBox Live so chooses, and I think it hampers some of the system's multiplayer success, especially with very team oriented games.

Take Gears of War for example, it has a great multiplayer component. It's fun, it's very team oriented, and it has chainsaw bayonets. I remember one game where me, two of the writers here, and an old friend from my Chromehounds squad were playing togehter on one team. We easily formed two man squads that actually managed to pincer the entire enemy team into a warehouse and then proceed to systematically destroy them. That was quite possibly one of the best multiplayer experiences I have ever had. We were able to quickly communicate with one another, cover each other's backs, and we all rocked, however, we recieved no credit for it, any particular reason?

Did the fact that I was playing with friends make me shoot straighter or make me otherwise a better player? In short, no. But the fact of the matter is, there are those people who would use this system to pad their stats by forming a game with some friends and then proceeding to allow each other to do whatever they wanted in order to gain achievements, because, of course, your Gamerscore is some measure of your worth as a gamer and thus a person. It is because of these people that this unfortunate dichotomy exists so if you want to be mad at anyone, be mad at them.

In the end I think player matches should count, and if a few people pad their stats, I couldn't care less, they're already dead inside.

My Greatness goes unrecorded

Yes, that is "Greatness" with a capital G.

Could someone explain to me why all the normal people playing Lost Planet online are playing in player matches instead of ranked matches? I mean, there really is nothing to gain my doing a player match: no experience, no achievements, no nothing. And yet, everyone seems to flock to the player matches, leaving ranked matches generally populated by douchebag power-levelers, and/or absolutely ridiculous gametypes (fugitive with the rifle?! wtf?!). This is distressing to me, since I am now forced to play in player matches to find a good game, but this means that when I get a 10-kill chain (which I did) it doesn't count! That's a 50 point achievement!

As you might be able to tell, I'm a little irritated right now, but I'm no longer sure what I'm mad at: the lack of friendly competition in ranked matches, or Microsoft for making multi-player achievements attainable in ranked matches only.

Re: The Wasteland

"Sony fanboys should be seriously concerned. The PS3 needs some games to gain traction and I just don't see them on the horizon."

Sidious, you're not looking far enough on the horizon. Even though Sony has seriously botched some deals, like losing GTA 4 as a PS3 exclusive, they still have the two games that really matter: MGS 4 and FF XIII. Sony doesn't need to beat Microsoft right now, they only need to tread water until Squeenix waves their magic wand and moves a few million PS3's off the shelves. Now, Sony doesn't have a stranglehold on Squeenix, they're still going to make games for other platforms like the DS, but even Sony isn't stupid enough to let them release the big titles for any other system. I really don't expect to see the important Final Fantasy or Dragon Warrior titles on another console anytime soon. Of course, I've been wrong before. In fact, I'm wrong frequently.

Re: Winter Wonderland

Well Avenger, you're not wrong that all of those games are coming out over the winter. I guess what I was trying to express was my disappointment that there weren't more AAA, AA, or even A quality titles. I can appreciate your argument though and I'm glad you made it. I have always wondered why game companies don't spread out the wealth a little bit more. Take for instance the November-December Christmas Season.

During the Christmas Season there are generally more games than one can even accurately keep track of. Yet games keep coming until the season has passed. Then you have the winter season proper, in which nothing (or virtually nothing as you pointed out Avenger) comes out. Why not spread it out a little bit. I mean I'm sure the game companies are working off of a substantial amount of data suggesting that they will make more money if they release over Christmas, and all things being equal, I would have to agree.

The problem, of course, is that all things are not equal, a AA quality title released in November might not even get notice in November, when it would be treated as something of a savior in January or February. Am I missing something?

Why I Won't Play WoW

Okay, so I was cleaning out a file box and found this little clipping from 5/9/2003 from The Week magazine:

"Women have a tough time finding their way around virtual reality. Female architects, trainee pilots, and computer gamers are generally 20 percent slower than men in figuring out where they are in a computer-generated world, say Microsoft researchers. Men, on average, can quickly create a mental image of their surroundings, and orient themselves. Unfortunately, 'women have lower spatial ability,' computer scientist Mary Czerwinski tells New Scientist. But the gender gap disappears when women are given a wider screen. Researchers found that women were just as adept as men at virtual navigation when their monitor offered a viewing angle of 100 degrees, instead of the standard 35 degrees."

I don't think that I necessarily agree...especially about that whole spatial thing...since I seem to be able to pack the car more efficiently than my male-counterpart. But, at least I have an excuse for why I'm not any good at these games. :)

Winter Wonderland...

While, I think that Sidious is right, there isn't a breadth of content coming out (especially for the PS3), I think there is a lot of quality to be had. Also doldrums after a system launch aren't uncommon it's just that two systems launched at the same time so a lot of effort was soaked into making launch or near-launch titles so it will take a little while before things get back to usual.

Still there's Fusion Frenzy 2, Supreme Commander, Rogue Galaxy, Burning Crusade, God of War II, Rathet & Clank: Size Matters, D&D: Tactics, Battlestations: Midway, Crackdown, Bullet Witch, Maelstrom, and Tital Quest: Immortal Throne, just to name a few all available by early March.

I'm not saying these will all be great, things could be a lot worse, much like "The Mild Recession" (if you get that reference, thank you). So stop worrying about your ailing PS3 and go play some Resistance: Fall of Man.

Gene Splicing

Jimmy, look up Impossible Creatures or Gene Wars. I think you might be pleasantly surpised.

As for Spore, that game looks sweet, any idea when it's supposed to come out?

The Wasteland

Well folks, here we are in the middle of January. Aside from the cold weather, this time of year usually means only one thing: No Video Games. Of course the "no" part of that statement is hyperbole. There are of course some video games being released. But compared to the holidays, well there simply is no comparison. Now IGN has created a series of articles under the moniker "Games of Winter." I highly recommend you check it out here. (The link goes to the PS3 games of winter, but all of the relevant links to other platforms can be found on the bottom of the page.) I have to say, even after checking out the entire list of games that IGN has compiled (which by the way includes a number of games from late March...stretching as far as I am concerned), I remain less than impressed. Sony fanboys should be seriously concerned. The PS3 needs some games to gain traction and I just don't see them on the horizon. Does anyone else here have a different impression?

Idle Hands

Avenger has recently been critical of the film known as Idle Hands. I protest this. Seth Green, Jessica Alba, and the rest of the cast of that movie provided me with a highly enjoyable experience. It was ridiculous, but who can dislike a movie with quotes like:

"Guy: I mean, there was this bright white light at the end of a long tunnel, right, and there was these chicks' voices, and that music... kinda uncool music, like, Enya. And these chicks' voices, they were saying, "come to us, come towards the light".

Other guy: So what happened?

Guy: We figured, f*** it, I mean, it was really far! "

What does this have to do with games? Campiness! I love movies like Idle Hands or Not Another Teen Movie. Other than games like Simpsons: Hit and Run and a few other series (mostly platformers like Jak and Daxter) dorky comedy is sorely lacking. I would like to see campy games come out with silly plots that are supposed to be silly, not just poorly written stories that are so stupid they are funny.

Overheard at the Bar-B

"Gene mutations are overrated"
"Would pig people taste better than normal pigs"
"I don't think the world is going to end in the next three hundred years"

Valid points all, but what is sorely missing here is a video game. Spore may be part of this, but that's not exactly what I'm talking about. Spore needs to add in the ability (in an expansion, it'll take long enough to be released in current concept) to splice the genes of one animal with those of another. I think this would be a great gameplay dynamic.

Or else it could be a whole game, probably for the DS. You can take over the world but have to create your own army. You can create horses crossed with dogs that pig people ride upon. You get the biology part, which could be mucho fun, and then also get the stratgy part. You could even fight your bizarre creation with someone else's. Other games do it, but they have set systems of character building. This would be more freeform. I'm excited already!

Games I Want Made...

Been playing a lot of Sword of the Stars lately and also talking to Sidious about Galactic Civilizations II and it has identified in my brain two titles that I would like to see made:

Alpha Centauri II - Dude, Alpha Centauri was sweet, it had a bunch of cool future techs, a neat sci-fi "plotline," and the ability to design your own units. Just fantastic.

Imperium Galactica III - I loved the way the Imperium Galactica games combined the RTS and 4X genres AND tried to have interesting stories at the same time. Imperium Galactica II actually had different storylines for each of the different sides (there were 3). That was a great series I'd like to see more of.

Re: Best Sim Ever?

Hahahaha, you got served, Sidious, you got served...

As for me, I'm never sure exactly what falls into the "Sim" category. I think there are a lot of games that combine Sim aspects with other genres like the Stronghold series adds RTS elements to what is largely a sim game, or The Sims has many RPG elements included in it's "life simulator".

For me, I think I would have to go with Zeus by Impressions. While arguably not as good as Pharoh (by the same company) I think I played through pretty much every mission this game had to offer and loved every minute of it. There was a complex economy that involved trade between several cities, a military RTS aspect that wasn't particularly complicated but was fun nonetheless, and also exciting mythical monsters and heroes that your city would have to deal with (i.e. Cyclops running around, Odysseus will only show up if you have x and y). Good times.

What ever happened to Impressions? Did they get absorbed, or close, or change their name? I haven't heard anything about them in a while...

Re: Re: Best Sim Ever?

Seriously? Railroads? I mean don't you think for something to the BEST EVER it should maybe be INTERESTING? I have absolutely no reason to want to play a game that would make me a 3-piece-suit wearing, cigar chomping, mustache twirling robber baron (not that I have anything against robber barons). But come on....roller coaster are much more FUN and EXCITING. And that's why you're just wrong. RCT ROCKS!

Re: Best Sim Ever?

Well, Kitten already knows this, but my vote is for Railroad Tycoon. That game has it all, building things, ruthless business tactics, a dynamic stock exchange, ruthless business tactics... I mean, the games not for everybody. Stock manipulation in 19th century industrial transport enterprises may not sound like a good time to everyone. That's why Roller Coaster Tycoon is so successful. Everybody loves theme parks. And perhaps if they could figure out a really good way to have your parks in Roller Coaster Tycoon compete with other parks, I might promote it to best sim ever, but for now if you want the best you have to ride the rails.

Best Sim Ever?

Over the weekend I went through my pile of games, weeding out the good from the not-so-good and stacking up the truly great. In the process a great fight started, one that I think belongs on the blog.

I love to build things. I don't mean bookshelves. I mean roller coasters, sim houses, and zoos. When I judge a sim game I measure it against the greatest Sim game of all time...Roller Coaster Tycoon.

Roller Coaster Tycoon has it all: the ability to manipulate a lot of items, challenging scnearios, fun graphics and gameplay, great music, and awesome expansions. I'm not exactly sure what controls making people buy more sodas when the price goes down, but the cause and effect of gameplay is right on (in some other knock off sims I am greatly disappointed). It's addicting and fun, exactly what a video game should be.

So make your case...Roller Coaster Tycoon, Railroad Tycoon, Zoo Tycoon...which do you think is best? I'd love to tell you why you're wrong.

OMGICBTJBDSTSNO24!!! [Spoiler Warning - Highlight to Read]

Oh My God I Can't Believe That Jack Bauer Didn't Stop the Suitcase Nuke On 24!!!

Nuff' Said.

[Post Edit: Text turned white to prevent readers from unintentionally spoiling the 24: Day 6 premiere for themselves]

Wow...

This s#$% is ridiculous, according to GameSpot:

Woman dies after Wii contest

28-year-old who took part in 'hold your wee for a Wii' radio show competition dies of likely water intoxication, reports AP.

Mother-of-three Jennifer Strange was hoping to win one of Nintendo's next-gen consoles for her children. But the KDND 107.9 radio show contest she took part in had a tragic end when the woman was found dead in her Rancho Cordova, California, home.

Coroner Ed Smith, performing a preliminary investigation, found evidence that was "consistent with a water intoxication death."

The winner of the Wii game console was to be the person who managed to not go to the toilet for the longest amount of time, despite consuming large quantities of water. Contestants had to drink an eight-ounce bottle of water every 15 minutes--one quit after five bottles. In the later stages of the competition, the remaining entrants were given even bigger bottles to drink.

It is not known how much water Ms Strange consumed. She told a colleague after the contest that she felt sick, and had a "really bad" headache. The woman was later found dead in her suburban home. It is not known if Ms Strange succeeded in winning the console.

A spokesperson for the radio station commented, "We are awaiting information that will help explain how this tragic event occurred."

No real comment. Just thought you all should know...be careful out there...

Fun with glitches

You know what I love? I love when an update (aka a patch) is available the day a game comes out. You know what's even better? When there are still huge glitches that said patch doesn't address. This is a warning to everyone out there playing Lost Planet: THERE IS A GLITCH WITH THE LAST BOSS. Sometimes, he will simply not die. Ever. You can wail on him for 5 minutes with no health and he just keeps on coming. So, as a note, if this happens to you, reload your save and it should be fixed.

Hopefully you don't spend an hour trying to kill a glitchy boss before thinking that there might be something wrong. That might make you as frustrated as I was last night.

Good to know

Thanks, Sidious. I wouldn't call those two people "stars," but it's good to know that there IS a connection. Working out of my apartment last year I ended up watching a lot of DS9 in the middle of the day, so I just thought it was funny. Especially since it still took me a second to recognize him. It must be that beard, or his sticking a knife in that guy's knee, not very Dr. Bashir at all...

Re: 24

Well, Avenger. Manny Coto is executive producer of the show. You might recognize the name from the credits of Enterprise. While he had no direct involvement in DS9 as far as I can tell, he was part of the Paramount sci-fi powerhouse for a number of years. As such, it should probably come as no surprise that he incorporates stars from Star Trek. As for not recognizing good doctor Julin, I can only offer an admonishing "tsk, tsk."

Re: Symphony of Retro Games

Thank you Kitten for your analysis of my situation. I think you are right. Games are like movies, and retro games do remind us of an earlier, simpler time. Of course, I may just be clinging to any indication that I'm not a crazy person for potentially enjoying my time with Sam and Max better than Lost Planet (blasphemy I know).

Note for the 24 Season Premier

Anyone else recognize the "peacemaking" (intentions not entirely identified at this point) terrorist Assad in the new season of 24 is Dr. Julian Bashir from Deep Space Nine? Along with Sherry Palmer they mark two clearly identifiable DS9 connections and it just amused me as it took me a second to identify him (though many in the room thought he looked "familiar"). I'm curious are there other DS9 or general Trek connections that people have seen throughout the show's five seasons?

Re: Symphony of Retro Games

My short answer to your question is: I don't think all the good ideas are gone.

First, your question is also like asking "Can Hollywood really make an original movie?" We still keep going to movies even though we know that in the end the boy will either get the girl or he won't. We still keep going to movies because they are fun! I think that the same is true of video games. They are re-released because even if the graphics aren't as great as the PS3, they are still fun. I still play Pharoah's Tomb (yes, from like 1991) because it's fun.

Second, I think that there is some nostalgia associated with retro games, just like old movies. They remind us of a different time, whether we lived it or not. For me Pharaoah's Tomb is everything great about my childhood. We were the first kids with a computer since my Dad worked at home. You know the ones with the old floppy drives? My Mom used to take us to the Sav-On drugstore on Saturdays and sometimes we'd talk her into a shareware game for $5. I can still picture the big stand with all the games on it in the aisle at the store. My brother and I would play and play and play and shared this hobby together. It was a way we could relate to each other (especially when we finally figured out that on level three if you hit the arrow button one extra time you can actually make the jump).

To Sum Up, I think that not all the good ideas are gone. Maybe just all the good endings are. I think there were only like three endings to begin with anyway. Gameplay, challenges, and advances in technology continue to change what games can do. You actually bowl on the Wii for crying outloud! Liking retro games doesn't mean there's anything wrong with you. I'm sure you probably have some great memories that they remind you of when you play them. Plus, Super Mario Bros. Rocks!!!

Whither the Adventure Game

Well now that I know that there is in fact something wrong with me, I feel as if a great burden has been lifted. Now I can talk about whatever random thoughts enter my mind. Those of you who visit the mothership regularly (and that should be everyone, the site's great), and who obsess over what all of us here are playing, know that one of the things I am currently playing is Telltale's Sam and Max series of games. I can't tell you how happy they make me.

I grew up typing commands to King Graham and Roger Wilco, clicking on drunken pirates, and helping save the world from an evil tentacle, and all in games which offered me no direct control over the main characters. These were Adventure games with a capital "A" and they have almost completely gone by the wayside thanks to a negative media that would apparently rather play 600 RTS's when they aren't cruising through 357 FPS's. Sam and Max is great, but it represents the exception to the rule. I would argue that the "death" of the adventure game genre nicely corresponds with the death of story-telling in at least a segment of the video-game field.

Will adventure games ever get the comeback they so richly deserve? Only time will tell.

In short, yes.

There is definitely something wrong with you.

Re: Re; Symphony of Retro Games

Your points are well taken, Incognito, but outside of the fact that I am sure that I am not as excited about Lost Planet as you are, I still can't understand my current fascination with retro games. I mean taken on face, the games I have been playing as of late are outmatched by current offerings in: graphics, audio quality, often story, sometimes design, length of play, and often raw innovation. And yet...I still find myself playin' Super Mario Bros. every night. To a lesser extent this also applies to the Playstation 3. I haven't played a "PS3" game on the PS3 in maybe a month. Instead I play FF XII, and currently "24" (to get mentally prepared for Day 6, oh yeah!!). I know that this is largely a function of the lack of superb games on the PS3, but still, I'm beginning to think that there is something wrong with me. Are any of the rest of you experiencing a sort of Retro-renaissance in your own lives? Or am I an outlier?

Re: Symphony of Retro Games

No, I do not think all the good ideas are gone. References: Gears of War, Lost Planet, Okami, and Shadow of the Colossus, all of which have been released in the last fifteen months or so. That's enough proof for me that there are still original (and good) ideas out there.

I also disagree that this season is a "barren wasteland." In the next month, we get the following:

Lost Planet
Rogue Galaxy
Forza Motorsport 2
Crackdown
Persona 3

That seems pretty bountiful to me, and that's only what's coming for the PS2 and 360 that I can think of off the top of my head. And yes, I did come up with Persona 3 off the top of my head: I'm always excited about a game where you execute attacks by shooting yourself in the head. I'm serious! Find a gameplay video and see for yourself!

Stay cool baby!

For everyone else who loves the Cole Train, I'd like to direct you to this official forum post with an .mp3 of the song that plays during the credits of Gears of War.

Woo! Bring it on sucka!

Symphony of Retro Games

Maybe its just because I have been immersed in the world of retro games since the Wii Launch, or maybe its because I have a sub-conscious longing to relive the days of my youth, but for the last little while I have been thoroughly enamored with retro gaming. And this news from gamespot does little to end my courtship. Still, I find it a little concerning that the games I am most looking forward to this year are largely the same as the games I was most looking forward to in 1997. Even Comand and Conquer 3, the game I am most looking forward to this spring, I expect to be largely unchanged from the "fight, win, prevail" days of old. Is this a trend? Are all the good ideas gone? Or am I just overreacting in the face of the barren video-game wasteland that we see every January?

Preorders...

Preordered Lost Planet and Rogue Galaxy today. I already know Lost Planet is going to be awesome and I trust Level 5 pretty implicitly at this point (Dark Cloud 2 was great). I just hope I manage to get one of those little vital suits with my preorder. I'd love to have one of those on my desk at work.

As a note, can someone explain to me why EB/Gamestop employees insist on trying to get me to preorder stuff that doesn't even have a confirmed release date yet? The guy tried to get me to preorder Mass Effect or Bioshock. At the earliest those are what? Fall? I'm pretty sure they're not about to run out just yet.

I just don't get it, so if someone could explain, please go ahead...

Embedding FTW

Good Catch!

New Blue Dragon Goodness

Gametrailers.com has a video review of the import version of Blue Dragon, and it certainly looks interesting. I would recommend checking it out, especially if you are a fan of ridiculous Japanese theme music.

Do you buy or rent?

Hello gamers...here's a question for you...Do you buy or rent your games? What decides which you do?

Most of the games I play are games that you can't you rent, so I can't really try them out or even play them all the way through by renting. Even so, games like the Sims or Roller Coaster Tycoon are my favorite and since they have no beginning-middle-or-end I can't really say they are worth renting since they are best played at any time. So I suppose my answer is I buy my games because they can't really be played "straight through."

And when you consider that I only play games I really like, I don't really spend a lot of money buying games I don't finish or don't play.

I won't lie, I'm kind of jealous...

According to this article from GameSpot, their editor-in-chief Greg Kasavin is leaving to pursue a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" as a game developer:

The name Greg Kasavin is synonymous with GameSpot. As one of the veteran members of this Web site, Kasavin has helped shape GameSpot for more than a decade.

Next week marks Kasavin's last at GameSpot, as he has decided to pursue a goal he has had since he was a child and approach the industry from the other side. He has accepted a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" at an established development studio.

"My friends, family, and close colleagues have known that making games has always been my goal," says Kasavin in a farewell blog post. "But breaking into that business is hard, and I wasn't going to do it until I was ready. At last, when faced with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get my foot in the door and contribute to one of my favorite gaming franchises, I still didn't have an easy time making the choice. That's because, in case it hasn't been abundantly clear, I love this job."

Kasavin has been writing game reviews for GameSpot for the better part of 10 years, and began working for this site as a college intern in 1996. Outside of GameSpot, Kasavin has served on the judging panel for the Game Critics Awards, which offers post-E3 honors to games "that will shape the future of interactive entertainment," and was featured as the subject of a 2002 Penny Arcade Web comic.

While I personally was never particularly fond of Kasavin's reviews, you have to respect what he has done as GameSpot's editor, and if I could manage to be in his shoes six years from now (he is 6 years older than I am) I'd be pretty pleased. Farewell, Greg, we barely knew ye...

RE: PS3 Woes Pt. 2

Hahaha....nice...

That's right Sony, you OWE it to us and our significant others, so get crackin'!

PS3 Woes Pt. 2

I do not own a PS3, nor do I frequently play it (although I did convince someone to download the Lemmings free trial so I could try it...it is everything I thought it would be). However, I have felt the residual PS3 woes myself watching my poor video-game obsessed fiance mourn his lost saves. How can Sony do this to me??

I deal with the inevitable football loss every fall, the yearly nail-biting of NBA playoffs, and the week-long mope session after hockey playoffs turn into a joke. Why must I endure the mood swings of a gamer who lost his saves too...through no fault of his own???!!!

This kind of gross electronic malfunction should be fixed....for women everywhere....because I just can't take it anymore.

PS3 Woes

Now, I personally believe that the current tendency of the media to bash the launch of the PS3 is a bit unfair. A system does not generally show its true colors at launch, and while I agree that the launch could have been better there is still much to like in what amounts to the cheapest Blu Ray player on the market. That being said, Sony is severely testing my patience this week.

In order to play PS2 and PS1 games on the PS3, a user is made to create what Sony calls an "internal memory card." Essentially this internal memory card is simply a block of data which is formatted to look like a memory card to those games from earlier Playstation eras. In general, the system works wonderfully. On Monday, however, I awoke to play a quick hunt or two on FF XII when much to my surprise, though the card still existed in my system's memory, the contents of said card were nowhere to be found. 71 hours of FF XII...gone. 15 hours of Okami...gone. 20 hours of Bully...gone. And it turns out that I am not the only one to have this happpen. Its amazing to me that the media hasn't seized on this as a major problem. Compared to the hullabaloo about Backwards Compatability (which as far as I can tell is mostly well executed on the PS3), this problem is far the more serious. In a mere two months Sony has managed to make my expensive new toy feel like junk.

Re: Game of the Year?

Well while my game of 2006 may well be FF XII, I am not willing to concede victory to it just yet. On the one hand FF XII does offer a great deal of RPG fun. On the other hand, I think that the size of the game, both in terms of side quests and geography, serves to hurt what might otherwise be a strong narrative flow. As a result, I am at least partially inclined to award the honor to Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. The problem is that I don't feel qualified to do so, since I have only played the game to about half way. Still, I can't imagine that one of FF XII and Legend of Zelda will eventually be my game of the year. Does that answer the question?

Re: Which is the Better Game?

Avenger, I would have to say that Rainbow Six: Vegas is the better game. First of all, I much prefer dealing with terrorists in the hustle and bustle of a tachnically advanced American city. I have always enjoyed video games that deal with a real threat to America rather than a distant threat in the slums of, oh I don't know, Mexico City. That being said, I think its a little bit sad that the Rainbow Six series and the Ghost Recon series now play so alike as to be darn near indistinguishable. On a certain level, it feels like where the gaming population used to have two different game series we now only have one. Its a good one, but still...

Merry Christmas Penguins!

If you haven't seen this, you owe it to yourself...



Merry Christmas & Happy New Years All! Thanks for bringing this to my attention, Incognito!

Game of the Year?

Hey Everyone!

As you all have probably noticed the blog has slowed down some for the holidays, but I want to encourage everyone to keep reading/writing, and so with the new year approaching it seems like a good time to discuss the best games of 2006. So I will open up the floor for all nominations, what do you think is the best game of 2006 and why?

My nomination should come as no surprise (and may be met with disdain from one of our writers), I nominate Final Fantasy XII for game of the year. It has a great storyline, fun gameplay, interesting characters, beautiful visuals, and enough content to keep you busy for a LONG time. It's probably the most enjoyable RPG I have played in some time and one of the best Final Fantasies ever, two thumbs way up.

Which is the better game?

This will probably be the first of many similar posts in the life of this blog, but last night I decided to play Rainbow Six: Vegas and I thought to myself, "man this game is really good," and I also thought, "man this game reminds me a lot of Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter." So I will pose this debate/discussion/question: Which is the better game G.R.A.W. or R.S.: Vegas?

My personal opinion is that R.S.: Vegas because it takes the already successful G.R.A.W. formula, puts it in a far more entertaining locale, improves how cover is implemented, and adds fun room-clearing tactics and equipment into the mix. When you add in the fun "save the hostage(s)" scenarios that crop up pretty regularly, you get an experience that is overall better than its predecessor (recognizing that the games are not actually in the same series). Thoughts?

Re: An Interesting Question

Seriously, Man of the Year: You? Did they stick a little mirror on the front cover of the magazine too? I'm glad that the blog was able to inform me of this little story because I probably would have completely missed it otherwise. Now for more important news what game is most important to me...

As I think both Incongito and Sidious have addressed, this is a very loaded question with a ton of great answers: Final Fantasy VII, Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Goldeneye, Chrono Trigger, among many, many others. For me I think the answer would have to be Starcraft. I think that in a lot of ways it changed the way that the industry thought about real-time strategy. It pioneered the concept of multiple different sides with actual appreciable differences in how they played and it also included one of the first RTS storylines that was actually character driven. Zeratul, Tassadar, Kerrigan, the guy who runs the Terran Imperium that I can't remember the name of, these characters still resonate with RTS players to this day and the storyline was engrossing to a point that I don't think any RTS has been able to match. Add to that one of the first expansion packs to actually build on the storyline of its predecessor and you have probably one of the finest real-time strategy experiences ever created.

I mean the thing still randomly pops up as a top seller even today, and if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Starcraft should be blushing like a schoolgirl with a crush. Countless attempts have been made to downright copy that formula that made Starcraft such a success, but none have been able to truly recapture the experience that made it so unique, and with Blizzard basically pulling out of the single player market due to the overwhelming success of its WoW franchise, it is unlikely we will see such a sublime RTS experience for some time. Though Relic's Dawn of War is close...very, very close...

Re: An interesting question

Incognito, I would have to say that my vote for most important game is actually a pair (a cop-out I know, but I am appealing to your magnanimity as the newly crowned man of the year) of 3do games which really altered my perceptions of what games could be: Star Control 2 and Shock Wave 2. What these games did that very few, if any, games did before them, was to apply a deep and interesting story to genres that hadn't really utilized story in such a way before.

In Star Control, the basic gameplay consists of rotating your two dimensional space ship around an oppoisng two dimensional space ship until you can blow said other ship up. But what Star Control 2 added was a point. All of a sudden, you were the sole free human being in the universe and it was your job to stop those other two dimensional space ships from enslaving the remainder of humanity. Add the fact that you could finish the game while only discovering roughly half its secrets, and you have what may be my favorite game of all time.

In Shock Wave 2, you pilot a fighter craft against an alien horde seeking to enslave humanity. I know, I know, "Wow what an original story!" But the reason it was so influential to me, is that it, like Star Control 2, raised the notion of applying story to areas where it had not been present before. Both Shock Wave games are essentially mock-up first person flight games in the vain of the old Empire Strikes Back arcade machine. But in Shock Wave 2 there are characters and plot lines that give impact to the missions you play, and for the first time in my memory playing the game was like participating in a science fiction movie come to life.

I am sure that other games have accomplished the integration of game play and story better than these two, at least by now, but for opening my eyes to what video games can be, these two games get my vote as most influential. Good question, Incognito.

1 in a million

From The Magic Box:

"Capcom announced the single player and multi-player demos of Lost Planet: Extreme Condition have been downloaded more than 1 million times combined; and over 300,000 hours of play time on Xbox Live."

Looks like I'm not the only one that's excited.

An interesting question

Geez, I'm without internet for two days and you Chatty Cathys post like six times.

Anyways, before I get to my original post, I had 3 comments:
1. If you want Master Chief to be robotic in his acting, that screams Keanu.
2. If you had put "Veronica Mars" in parentheses after Kristin Bell's name you could have saved me a google trip.
3. I really didn't expect to be Man of the Year of the year this soon. Now I can work on being 3-time Man of the Year, since at this point 2-time Man of Year goes without saying.

Now on to the real post.

I would like to pose this question to you all: what game is the most important to you. By this, I mean what game either changed your perception on what games of that genre (or games in general) should be, or changed the industry's views on the same.

It would not surprise me in the least if at least 3 of us have the same answer.

For me, the most important game is Final Fantasy VII, for what it did to the industry. What Goldeneye did for console FPSs, FF 7 did for console RPGs. FF 7 put console RPGs on the map. Not only that, but that development team spread out over the entire industry. Nowadays, you're hard pressed to find an RPG development team that doesn't have ties to the FF 7 staff.

Also, FF 7 did something that hasn't been duplicated since: profanity. For me, that was the most eye-opening aspect of FF 7. It was something that you just didn't see in videogames at that time (even though it was all censored, it was still unprecedented), and it's something that you haven't seen in console RPGs before or since. That's what makes me sad, that no one has had the stones to make an RPG character that swears all the time. However, this only adds to the legacy of FF 7. If we never see another Barret or Cid again, it makes them all the more endearing to us knowing that they are on-of-a-kind.

Time keeps on tickin'...

According to Gamespot:

When the New York Times said the PlayStation 3 "just isn't that great" in November, many Sony fans were up in arms. However, those words were relatively kind compared to what Time had to say. In naming its "5 Things That Went From Buzz to Bust" for 2006, the magazine put the PS3 right up there with Snakes on a Plane, O.J. Simpson's If I Did It book proposal, and Bode Miller's goose egg at the Winter Olympics. The piece begins harshly ("The big story in computer games this year was HOW TO BLOW A HUGE LEAD, by Sony." (capitals in original)), continues brutally ("The PS3 is hideously expensive," "the launch titles were lame"), and ends with a schoolyard insult ("You know you're in trouble when you get beat by something called a Wii"). Time's disdain for the PS3 isn't unprecedented. For the console's launch, the magazine also ran an article titled "Sony's PlayStation 3 Is Not Worth the Hype."

Me: While I don't disagree with the premise that the PS3 launch could have been a lot better, comparing it to OJ Simpson's writing a book explaining how he committed murder is a bit of a low blow, don't you think. Of course I guess we should expect no less from a magazine that, when faced with the daunting prospect of choosing a man/woman of the year, laid this particular egg. I dare say that the choice is a bit of a bust itself, but hey at least I can finally put that man of the year plaque up.

Stars and Videogames

Well, Avenger, I don't think that any portion of the Halo movie has been cast, especially since they seem to throw out whatever script their working on every other day. That being said, I'm fairly certain that Samuel L. would be too emotive to be the chief. You would need to cast someone who could be a bit more robotic in their performance.

Edit: Oh and I just thought of this, but does Ms. Bell's description of Assassin's Creed seem to send itself pretty naturally to a certain theme song. "A long time ago, we used to be friends..."

We gotta kill them Covenant motherf@#ers!!!

Denzel's set to play Master Chief in the movie isn't he?

Stars in videogames is kinda cool, but not an altogether new idea. Still it should be interesting to see who else crosses over...

Oh, and your Kristen Bell-lust scares me (I understand that she is, in fact, wicked attractive, but seriously). Just go watch Reefer madness again or that one where the internet is trying to kill people...

Stars and Video Games

While it may be going to far to call Kristen Bell a bone fide star at this point, its not going to far to call her a video game star. According to IGN:

"GN TV: You also have a videogame you worked on for next year, right?

Bell: Yeah, I actually have one coming out for Ubisoft. I don't know what the date is; sometime next year. It's called Assassin's Creed. You can check it out at assassinscreed.com. It's actually really interesting to me. It's sort of based on the research that's sort of happening now, about the fact that your genes might be able to hold memory. And you could argue semantics and say it's instinct, but how does a baby bird know to eat a worm, as opposed to a cockroach, if its parents don't show it? And it's about this science company trying to, Matrix-style, go into people's brains and find out an ancestor who used to be an assassin, and sort of locate who that person is. It's very, very cool, and I've seen all the graphics for it. We just recorded all the dialogue and did all the face scans and body scans, and I'm really excited about it.

IGN TV: So you're not just doing the voice, but you're actually going to be physically in the game?

Bell: Yeah. I think they'll probably have someone much more coordinated do any actions she has to do, but they did scan my face and body."

I don't know about you, but this news officially moves Assassin's Creed way up my list. Especially if Bell solves high school/college related crimes while in the Assassin's Creed world. That being said, the idea that stars can now so easily be incorporated into video games makes me wonder...what other stars would make good video game characters? Kiefer Sutherland teaming up with Sam Fisher? Samuel Jackson as a squad mate in Halo 3? Any thoughts?

FFXII and Incognito

Yeah, we probably could talk more about FFXII, seeing as it is one of the best Final Fantasies ever, but then you'd probably just pout about it by refusing to post for a month or something so I'll try to curtail our discussion and it will probably happen naturally if we ever beat the blasted thing...

The Mario Party 4 Drinking Game

As promised:

THE MARIO PARTY (4) DRINKING GAME
Blue Space: Drink 1
Red Space : Everyone Drinks 1
Happening Space: Drink 2
Mushroom Space: Everyone else Drink 1
Event Space : Drink 2
Warp Space: Drink 2
Fortune Space: Drink 3
Bowser Space : Waterfall ending with who landed on it
Get Item: Drink 2
Use Item : Drink 3
Roll Again : Next Drink is x2
Minigame Loser(s): Drink 1 for each winner
Minigame Winner(s): Drink 2 for each loser
Battle Game Everyone: Drink # of coins/10 (round up)
Battle GameWinner: Drink 2
Battle Game winner of “That other coin” = 1 Drink
Bowser Game Loser: 3 Drinks
Bowser Game non-losers: 2 Drinks
Star: Finish
Lottery Winner : Drink 3
Win Lucky Ticket: Drink 5
“Last 5 Spinner”: Drink 5
Hidden Block: Drink 10
Bonus Stars: Drink 5 each
Second Place: Finish
WINNER : Finish+1
Other rules can and will be added at owner’s discretion.

The game can handle as many people as needed, just have non-players "sponsor" players, and drink when they drink.

I'm nervous

So, I just read that Squeenix (that's what I've started calling Square Enix. I hope it catches on) is working on 2 titles for the 360. My worst fear is that they will pull a "Soul Caliber" with Kingdom Hearts 3: releasing the game on the PS3 and 360 with 1 or 2 minor differences. This terrifies me, because I know that I will have to play both versions. I don't have the time for that, nor do I will I have the strength to choose just one, knowing that I'm missing out on part of the Kingdom Hearts 3 experience.

God, I hope one of those two titles isn't KH 3. It will break me.

I saw your post first

First, don't call me Incog, it's creepy. It sounds like we're dating.

Second, Gears tonight is a no-go, since tonight is the glorious return of the MARIO PARTY DRINKING GAME!!!!!! I'll post the rules here later (after I give them a test run).

Also, could we discuss FF XII more? I really don't think we bring it up in enough posts. And since sarcasm doesn't come across very well in print, I'll just mention that that last sentence was sarcasm.

On FFXII's Length...

I think that Sidious overestimates the strength of the storyline fights. I just fought a storyline boss last night (after doing hunts for about the last 6-8 hours) and it was complete cakewalk. I mean he basically took away all my MP so he wasn't allowed to be too hard, but the hunt I did right before him was about 5 times harder. In addition, equipment in this game boosts your stats at least on par with leveling and since that is directly tied to your place in the storyline, your characters probably get stronger faster. Still 40 might be pushing it, there's a lot of walking (Lord of the Rings style), but I think you could do it a heck of a lot faster than we are. Still I don't think it's too long because I am constantly seeing new things, getting new stuff, fighting new monsters, and there are still plenty of areas I have encountered that I am nowhere near strong enough to traverse. As I said, as long as there is content and gameplay to back it up, length is a good thing.

Hey Incog, I'll probably call you about this, but if you see this post first, you up for some Gears Multiplayer tonight? Let me know!

I don't think we should add this to IDOG

For those of you who spent any time wacthing the Detroit Tigers go from having 13 consecutive losing seasons to being in the World Series this fall, you probably know about their rookie phenom closer, Joel Zumaya. "Zoom-Zoom Zumaya" was so good this season that when the Tigers needed to shut out the Yankees for the last three innings of only their second playoff game in over a decade, they went to the kid. Of course those of you who followed the Tigers also likely know that after his magnificent performance in that game, he was only sporadically available to the team do to an unknown hand injury. Well now we know what caused that injury. According to this article at Gamespot:

"Zumaya, who tops the 100mph mark on his fastball, was benched in the ALCS against the Oakland Athletics because of forearm inflammation. However, the Tigers training staff was confused because his injury seemed to be caused by the same motion of playing guitar--not from an overhand pitching motion.

The pitcher and trainers quickly realized that Zumaya's problem stemmed from his addiction to RedOctane's Guitar Hero, the PlayStation 2 rhythm game that uses a guitar-shaped controller, according to the Detroit Free Press."

So I guess Jack Thompson was right after all: Video Games Kill...playoff chances.

Re: On a Plethora of Topics

After thinking about Incognito's and Avenger's points. I have the following comments:

"RPG should be finishable (is that a word?) in 40 hours. Period."

Me: I couldn't agree with this point, and I don't think that Avenger would ever. If there is one thing I disagree with, however, is Avenger's notion that FF XII is "finishable" within 40 hours if you skip the side quests. Maybe I'm wrong (and I'm certainly trying to do everything), but since I'm struggling to keep my party alive even with all that extra experience and money, I don't see how anyone can rocket through the game by simply following the main quest. Perhaps the game is using some kind voodoo balancing system to compensate for my now 58 hours of play.

"Does anyone enjoy looking at Akira Toriyama's designs?"

Me: I have to say that I don't share Incognito's utter disdain for these character designs. At the same time, I don't think that they rise to the level of those contained in even DQ 8 much less FF XII.

"On the Lost Planet Online Demo"

Me: This sounds like fun, I like the concept of not having respawning weapons, and of having constantly changing maps. I don't know about the rest of you, but with constant maps it always felt like skill could be overcome through the simple act of memorization. Laser Swords anyone?

"I'd like to see Super Nintendo titles like Soulblazer, Illusion of Gaia, or Actraiser on the Virtual Console..."

Me: Oh yeah...the glory days of of the SNES. Did you see IGN's review of Alien Crush? They think that Nintendo is just "being nice" by holding on to their own juggernaut-type games until their partners get some of their stuff out. I don't know about that, but there is little doubt in my mind that the Virtual Console is going to be something truly special in the very near future.

Finally, as for the numbering debate, I admit that the problem is more psychological than anything else. By the time DQ 10 comes out on the PS3 we will just acknowledge DQ 9 as something like Rocket Slime, but I just don't understand why companies do this.

On a plethora of topics

Plethora. Good word. Aaaaaaanyways.

On game length:
I'll chime in on my self-proclaimed area of expertise: a console RPG should be finishable (is that a word?) in 40 hours. Period. You can add on 500 hours of side-quests if you are so inclined, but I should be able to play the main storyline to completion in 40 hours.

On Blue Dragon:
The word on the street is that Blue Dragon will be displayed in 1080p. Fantastic. Now I can enjoy 1080 vertical lines of progressively scanned god-awful character design. Does anyone enjoy looking at Akira Toriyama's designs? Well, other than the Japanese? It was acceptable when they were on the SNES (see Chrono Trigger), since back then pretty much every artist's designs looked the same in 16-bit. Unfortunately, nowadays when someone designs ugly, uninteresting characters they are all too noticeable. This isn't to say that I don't think Blue Dragon won't be a great game. I have high hopes for it. However, I'm not looking forward to staring at this for hours on end.

On the Lost Planet Online Demo:
I have NEVER been this into the online aspect of the game. This is due to two main reasons:
1. The map is never the same. You won't find the same item in the same spot twice. Also, items don't re-spawn, so no one can camp the plasma rifle, or shotgun, or whatever their weapon of choice is.
2. 12-year-olds with headsets. Not only are they almost-free kills, they are the greatest source of comedy in the known universe. I played a match with not one, but two 12-year-olds with headsets. My friend and I were laughing so hard I almost didn't win. Almost.
January 12th is getting closer by the day.

Responses...

Thank you, Sidious for your numerous posts as of late. Sorry if you've felt like a raving madman sitting out here musing to yourself, while the rest of us have been too busy with work/school to respond. I will take the onus of responding to all your debates though the rest of you can feel free to chime in...

Too Long ?
Perhaps FFXII is too long (moving into hour 70 on my end, still not sure how close I am to the ending), but there's a few things to say in its defense and the defense of long games in general. First, do you tend to involve yourself in the extra stuff (side quests, optional dungeons, ultimate weapons, etc.)? FFXII has these in spades and the hunts alone may be longer than the plot of the actual game itself. If you burn through the story alone without getting distracted by other things (as some gamers do) this one might be only 40-45 hours. Second, a game's length should be somewhat tailored to it's genre. RPGs are always going to be longer to give you that sense of accomplishment when you do something and also to see that gradual progression of your character. FPSs on the other hand should probably not be longer than 20 hours, there's just not that much you can do within a single FPS, and if you try to stretch it out too much if often comes off as feeling repetitive. Another thing to consider is that you add length because of a breadth of content you need/want to display not just so that you can have length to advertise about. There is a certain push from mainstream reviewers that longer=better, but somewhere along the way they forgot why: more content is better because there's more to see and do not just the same industrial hallway with the same bad guys jumping out and shooting at you over and over again. I mean the Matrix could be 10+ hours long but no one wants to see Trinity and Neo driving everywhere they want to see the lobby scene! Finally, I think you have to accept that there are different buying patterns out there. There are gamers that buy lots of different great games because they like having them, even if they know they probably won't get a chance to finish them (Sidious and myself for example). At the same time there are many gamers which buy only a few games a year and play them constantly. For them, they want a lot of time for their money so they can explore every nook and cranny and really get their money's worth out of the game. It really comes down to this: if at any point in a game you just want to finish it because you've put so much time into it, it's too long, and that is going to differ a lot from person to person depending on their spending and playing habits. For me that was Star Ocean: Til the End of Time, way too long and not enough happened, for you maybe it's FFXII or Doom 3...

Hybrid Games
Hybrid games can be cool, though I still don't understand your adoration of Final Lap Twin, but to each his own. A puzzle RPG would be cool and I'd like to hear more about it. Personally, (though I don't have a Wii) I'd like to see Super Nintendo titles like Soulblazer, Illusion of Gaia, or Actraiser on the Virtual Console, those games were sweet, though I suppose I could just emulate them...

Disclaimer: The writers of The Den and The Vampire Penguin do not condone or support the behavior of piracy in any way, shape, or form. Except for sky piracy...then it's cool.

Numbering in RPGs
Agreed, handheld games probably shouldn't qualify for numbers, neither should games that depart from the genre of the original. At that point they cease being part of a series and are considered spinoffs to that series: FF Tactics, DQ: Rocket Slime, etc. Does this mean we don't get a DQ IX outside of the DS? That's kind of lame, I mean DQ8 is a masterpiece and say what you will for the DS, it can't match that, it's just impossible to get to that level of polish on a handheld. Well, that bummed me out. Guess I'll have to go play more FFXII.

There that should fill my blog quota for a little while. Keep em comin!

Numbering in RPGs

Ok so according to this article, Dragon Quest IX, the sequel to one of the best games ever made, will be exclusive to, of all things, the Nintendo DS. Now, I don't have a problem with the DS having a Dragon Quest (or any other series) as a general rule, but I do have a problem with it being called "IX." I really think Square-Enix needs to reexamine its policy on game numbering conventions. An RPG on a handheld can no more be the "true sequel" to a world renowned RPG-series than an MMORPG can. And the fact that I have to explain to those around me why I consider FF XII to be the true sequel to FF X, still irks me. FF XI may be a great game, but the eleventh "true" Final Fantasy game it is not.

Hybrids and Puzzles

As many of you may know, Monday is Wii Virtual Console Day in the Sidious household. Each Monday, the nice people at Nintendo release a few more games for their virtual console into the hands of their adoring fans. But the stream isn't quite fast enough. Everyone I know (with a Wii that is) is waiting for a different favorite game: Super Mario Bros., Zelda: Ocarina, Toe Jam and Earl...etc. I myself am hoping for a number of different games, mainly from that old stalwart of video game console-dom: The Turbographix 16. One such game is called Final Lap Twin. It was a racing game much like every other racing game on the planet, with one exception: an RPG. That's right, you needed to race "monsters" and earn upgrades to your car in order to work your way to the world championships, all the while talking to townsfolk and helping them with their problems. I loved this game. Well, I was scanning the web this morning and another interesting hybrid has popped up. They call it "Puzzle Quest" and this is what Gamespot has to say about it:

"The easiest way to imagine Puzzle Quest is as a mix of the challenging Bejeweled-like puzzles mixed with role-playing elements that would fit nicely in an older Final Fantasy game."

A Puzzle RPG...I mean come on, how can that go wrong? Any thoughts?

How Long is too Long?

So, I'm sitting there yesterday working on the 55th or 56th hour of Final Fantasy XII, with no discernable end in sight, and I think to myself: "Is this game officially too long at this point?" Now, don't get me wrong, I can think of few other games which I have enjoyed this immensely, but at this stage of my life (ie working, with a new house, and a soon-to-be new wife) I do want to have some hope of finishing the games that I start, and for games other than those with a "Final" and a "Fantasy" in the title, I know that I will not be able to devote this many hours. What do you all think? Are games too long? And as a corrolarry, do games get knocked too much by mainstream review sites for being "short' (8-15 hours)?

Sequels ftw!

I love sequels! Some of my favorite all-time games are sequels, like Kingdom Hearts II and Shadow Hearts: Covenant. Sequels work when they take what you loved about the last game and make it even better, whether its the combat, or the story, or the characters, etc.

As for what constitutes a sequel, I think that it largely depends on the genre. For me, since the majority of the games that I play are console RPG's, a sequel to me is anything with storyline, or at least time-line carryover. For example, Shadow Hearts: Covenant is a sequel to Shadow Hearts because it starts (more or less) where the first game left off, and Shadow Hearts: From the New World is a sequel to that, even though it has none of the same playable characters, since it takes place in the same world at a different time. Conversely, Final Fantasy VIII is not a sequel to Final Fantasy VII, since it has new characters, a new world, a new story, and no time-based relationship (e.g. the FF VIII world is not the FF VII world 400 years in the future, it is a separate entity). A common name does not a sequel make.

As for other genres, perhaps my compatriots could provide their insight on the matter.

Dear Gamers: Question 1

Do you think game sequels work?

Personally I have seen some sequels work very well. As a girl gamer I don't mind the differences or nuances between Spyro 1 and Spyro 2. But what are your thoughts on sequels? And what would you consider a sequel and what is just part of a series?

Sweetness

There's a Lost Planet multiplayer demo? That's awesome! I've been stoked about that game since the E3 demo came out a while ago, but I haven't done much with my 360 lately as my HDTV is in the shop (curse you Best Buy!). I'm glad to see it's good though, I'll have to check it out some time. Have you played any Gears of War online yet? The online gameplay in that is pretty sweet, though again it does rely a lot on WHO you play with. There's more than a few people who convinced me to go find another server after playing with them for approximately 3 seconds. Nevertheless, the multiplayer is tight especially when you get a team together that actually talks and works together. Too bad you can't keep a team together in ranked matches, but I guess achievements aren't everything...

Oh and in your response about the PS3, I think you are totally right about the difference in supply between the Wii and PS3, and considering that the PS3 has one of the worst launches ever (Resistance:FoM and what?) it's no big loss. I figure it will work out just like the 360, as soon as they have an exclusive I'm desperate for (like Oblivion for the 360) it should be on its way to being readily available in stores. In the meantime I'm playing a lot on my PC (Mark of Chaos, Neverwinter Nights 2, BF2142) and the PS2 (FFXII, Okami, Valkyrie Profile 2) so I should be good for a while =).

Lost Planet = Super Awesome

So, I beat Gears of War on casual tonight, and I didn't feel like starting again on hardcore right away, so I hit the marketplace to see what's new. Dark Sector video, huh? Why not. Lost Planet Online Demo, hello! I had seen some videos of the game a while back and was none to impressed, but I downloaded the single player demo a few weeks ago and had a lot of fun with it. And even thought I usually don't care for the multi-player aspects of games very much (call me crazy), I figured I'd give it a shot, and I'll be damned if one elimination match didn't sell me on it.

Maybe it has nothing to do with the game itself, and everything to do with the natures of the other 10 people I was playing with, but no one resorted to cheap tricks just to win. This really impressed me, since the game is littered with weapons that just scream CAMP WITH ME (e.g. the laser cannon)!!!!!!! It also helped that I didn't suck, as is usually the case with me and online shooters. I got second place, and probably could have won if the default controls didn't suck. The three options that I should have been default:

1. I blame Halo as the game that began this horrific trend of not inverting the Y-axis by default. Anyone who had ever played a console shooter before 2002 was raised on the inverted Y-axis! This should be default on every console shooter!
2. The default sensitivity for the cross hairs is at least 2 settings too slow.
3. Why is the options menu the back button? Especially when the start button is not mapped to anything else? It took me about 3 deaths to find the damn options menu.

Also, am I going crazy? Did they switch the "change weapon" and "anchor" button mappings for the online demo? I haven't double-checked, but I swear they did.

Anyways, Lost Planet has jumped way up my "to get" list. As one guy in my match said:
"When does this game come out?"
"Not soon enough."
Too true may friend. January 12th seems so far away.

"Next-gen" is here

Hooray! All of the "next-gen" systems have been released. I'm currently taking all bets on how long until news sites stop referring to it as "next-gen" and start calling it "current-gen." The over-under is Christmas.

"Gamecube 1.5"

Of course Nintendo can have 1.4 million units at launch: they're using 3-year old hardware. It wouldn't surprise me if they bought their chip sets from an army surplus store. Using materials that are readily available allows you to make lots and lots of consoles.

You know what materials are not readily available? Blu-ray drives and Cell processors. Sony's manufacturing process for the PS3 is dependent not only on their ability to assemble consoles, but also on other manufacturers ability to create the parts used in the PS3. If Cell manufacturing gets slowed up, Sony's up sh*t creek without a paddle.

Does this mean Sony is not doing something as diabolical as purposely holding back production? No, Sony is a diabolical company. It is well within the realm of plausibility. I'm just tired of everyone riding Sony's ass about production shortages. When you have such a ridiculous amount of demand, it's impossible to satisfy it. Unless you make some ridiculous number of systems, let's say 10 million, which is not a fiscally feasible number, there are lots of people out there who want it and don't get it.

So you didn't get a PS3? Life sucks. Get over it.

Consoles != Money

First of all, don't think for a second that Sony cares about you, you might as well pray for one because it's more likely that divine intervention will get you a PS3 than appealing to Sony's sense of decency. Or you can hire a Chinese immigrant, apparently that's working out pretty well for the Japanese, and eBay...

Bitter diatribes aside, I believe the truth of the matter is consoles don't actually equal money for the company, at least not in the short run. Consoles are sold at a loss, but the money is made up on the videogames in which a cut of every $60 goes straight to Sony. With the relatively small launch line-up that the PS3 has (which is mostly composed of ports from other systems), Sony is probably expecting to lose a fair bit of money on the launch, and it is entirely possible they are trying to cut their losses by slowing down the launch schedule.

It is also entirely possible that they have completely screwed up the manufacturing process, and they really can't manage to produce near enough to meet demand. I mean 400,000 down to 200,000? Why is that only being announced now? Did it sneak up on you? Was one of your warehouses raided by PS3 hoarding warlords? Doubtful. The truth is they didn't want to stall out their hype machine with the little fact that on launch day, most of us are going to be disappointed.

Really there's no excuse for it, I mean look at Nintendo. 1.4 million Wii's worldwide at launch and another 4 million by Christmas. It is unclear whether they will hit these goals, but they seem pretty confident about it. The Wii is probably the last system I want to buy (yeah I'm kind of a graphics whore, sue me), but you gotta respect that at the very least they are trying to meet demand. Sony on the other hand, I think takes sick delight in the fact people are camping out as early as Monday in order to get their hands on a PS3.

Do I want a PS3? You bet. Did I actually take a day off to try and wait in line? Yep. Is it worth all this trouble? That remains to be seen...

I'm Still Waiting....the PS3

While I have a PS3 on hold, in theory, I have not heard whether or not I will actually get one. I find that horribly unfair. I curse you video game makers and your need to create "fake" demand or whatever lame excuse you would like to use about why you will not be selling more of these machines sooner. Machines sold = money. You do like money, don't you??? All I know is that between tense football games and waiting for the PS3, not to mention a little trouble getting a Wii my fiance just might implode. I really can't handle his video game stress. So come on Sony....help a girl out....

Re: Feel My Fury EB/Gamestop

While we all probably *hope* someone gets fired over thousands of Gears of War sitting on a dock somewhere, I doubt it will happen...if it did these companies would have improved their service a long time ago, unless there is just a long line of incompetence they must purge before they can hire smart people (or monkeys). yeah...I think that must be it...lots of incompetence.

WESTWARD!

A while back I wrote a preview for a Sandlot game called Westward! I highly recommend this game (based on the preview) and have it on good authority (from someone on the inside) that everything I took issue with in my preeview has been updated and revised for the launch on Tuesday, November 14th!! I hope that you will consider checking out this great game.

Read my preview here!

PS: While you wait for that...go pick up Viva Pinata (XBOX 360), one of the best games I've played in a while...and guys...this is a great one for girlfriends!!

I won't say I told you so

But I told you so. Please reference my previous post "I hate Gamestop."

Feel My Fury EB/Gamestop!!!

"Due to an unforeseen shipping error, you're order of ... Gears of War ... will be arriving in stores tomorrow afternoon, we apologize for the inconvenience..."

Way to go EB/Gamestop! What it probably should say is "we're sorry you decided to order your game from a storefront that is completely devoid of any customer service or even basic intelligence. We don't really care that we completely f*#%ed you. Now please bend over." I mean seriously, a think of bunch of monkeys high on ecstasy could run a more organized operation.

Anyone who had this happen, sound off on our comments, and berate EB/Gamestop while your at it. I've said it before and I'll say it again, EB & Gamestop suck, and the market is screaming for a game store that isn't terrible and actually tries to service their customers.

You can bet someone's getting fired over this. There's probably hundreds of thousands of dollars of lost revenue, because apparently all the Gears of War are sitting on some dock. Sweet.

Gears of War > Final Fantasy XII ?

Sorry to hear about your technical problems Incognito. I've been hearing the same things from some other people trying to get NWN2 to play properly, mostly that the game's graphics don't warrant the high system reqs. That's Obsidian for you, they can weave a great story but I don't think their programming is quite as good as BioWare's. I mean, have you seen the videos of Mass Effect? I can't wait for that game, though nobody has any idea when it's coming out.

Anyway, the purpose of this post was for me to state my general disbelief that Gears of War could be a better game than Final Fantasy XII, but that seems to be what the reviews are saying. 9.4 from IGN, 9.6 from Gamespot, 5 out of 5 from Gamespy?! I've played a solid 40 hours of FFXII in just over a week, I can't even imagine a game that could grab my attention more than that. Well I've got the collector's edition preordered at the local EB, so after I pick it up on my way home tonight we'll see how these two titans stack up to one another.

P.S. FFXII has officially moved to my #2 spot (out of Final Fantasies), as long as the story keeps going as strong as it has, it should be able to claim that spot from FFVI.

Why does NWN 2 run like crap?

From what I can see, NWN 2 uses pretty much the same engine as Kotor 2, and Kotor 2 ran fine on my old machine. My new computer is faster in pretty much every department, but for some reason NWN 2 runs like crap. I haven't played a game this choppy since the PC port of Halo, but at least Bungie had an excuse: they didn't make a bad PC game, only a terrible PC port of an Xbox game.

I can't afford to upgrade my computer now, but why should I have to? For the life of me, I can't figure out why I (and some others from what I'm hearing) can't run this game at any respectable quality on machines that should be able to run it smoothly

10 DAYS TO GO!!!!!!

ONLY 10 DAYS UNTIL PS3!!! I am so excited, even though I will probably not do much other than brag about having one....I'm just the girl along for the ride. :)

35:30:06

That's how long I have played FFXII in the last 6 days...

Minding that I haven't yet finished it, this may be one of the finest FF's of all time. Definitely top five, maybe even top three.

Now I must sleep...

Lecture Topic: The Console Wars

At the end of Jimmy's post, he said "But that gets us back to a console war." For us to be able to go back to a console war, the console war would've needed to have left at some point in the past.

The console wars have always been with us, even though they currently don't resemble the console wars of the past. The days of magazine adds blatantly stating that you're a wuss if you play this console, or you need steel balls to be able to handle that console are over.

What we have now is more of a console cold war, if you will. A developer arms race instead of a nuclear one. Sony and Microsoft (mostly Microsoft) have been quietly swallowing up game development companies for years now, in an attempt to lock up as many A-list franchises as possible for their console.

However, I thinks things are about to change. The near-imminent resurgence of Nintendo as a major factor in the console market has a chance to really shake things up. The potential of the Wii will drive the development of 3rd party content exclusive to a Nintendo system, something that hasn't happened regularly in this century. All of a sudden, it won't be as easy for Microsoft and Sony (mainly Microsoft) to dominate the smaller (i.e. not EA, Sega, etc) publishers. And when that happens, don't be surprised when Sony and Microsoft resort to mud-slinging (especially Sony, since I'm pretty sure Kaz Hirai is crazy).

I can't wait.

Also, I'm happy I got to use the phrase "if you will" in this post. High-five!

Re: Hoot, Hoot the Owl

Jimmy, I totally agree with your complaints about video game commercials. One thing that always annoys me when a new video game commercial is released is how little they tend to show of actual gameplay. Take the new Marvel: Ultimate Alliance commercial for example. The entire thing consists of clips taken from the intro movie which, while cool, only serve to act as a "proof-of-concept" of the game. While such commercials might clue me in to the games existence, I'm generally gonna need a little more then the rendered intro video to decide if I'm willing to shell out 50 or 60 bucks. Maybe its just a pet peeve of mine, but its a big one.

Hoot Hoot, the owl

Does everybody remember that owl from the tootsie pop commercials? You know, one, two, THREE! Well, those were the days of good commercials. Nowadays, commercials have become my favorite cliche: either really good or really bad. Election commercials are generally terrible. Maryland's Michael Steele actually has a pretty good campaign, though he's going to lose. But he does love puppies.

Game commercials consistently violate my cliche, which sounds quite lewd, but really isn't. Game commercials don't blow me away. They sometimes succeed in making me more interested in the game, but not regularly. I think that they should be more like movie commercials. Show off some of the best stuff and make the story sounds cool, even if it isn't (see Saw III). Often the commercials uses one of three systems: you've played the prequel (or a similar game) and they compare the new one to that, Maxim likes the game, it looks cool. Sure, there are other systems, but they aren't standbys.

Why don't I see more broad-based advertising. Thats a way to pull people in. It seems like most game commercials exist to sell the console because they all focus on that at the end. and consoles are advertised all over the place. According to the current norms, gamers mostly watch Adult Swim. Okay, that's entirely true, but from my experience, gamers do an exceptional job of playing while watching TV. Why not better advertising? Why not election-like smear campaigns between Gears of War and Halo and Red Steel. But that gets us back to a console war. Whatever.

Neverwinter Nights 2

Man, I completely forgot that game was coming out this week too, but I am totally tapped on money right now, and I think I have my RPG needs met for the next 40-60 hours. In Gamestop's defense I think there are two points that should be made: 1) more often than not the "order status" doesn't update fast enough, there are plenty of times I've received a game before they said they'd even shipped it, which isn't a good thing but better than it actually shipping late and 2) it is possible that the problem actually lies with Obsidian, given the number of delays for this game and their general lack of reliability, I wouldn't put it past them to have shipped it to EB/Gamestop late.

That being said, I don't particularly like EB/Gamestop, and outside of exclusives (FFXII Collector's Edition for example) or hard to acquire items I am more likely to go to Best Buy than I am to one of those stores, and frankly that is a really sad state of affairs. There was a time when EB/Gamestop had a lot of credit with gamers, and I think they've gone a long way to destroy that while Best Buy is gaining ground. I do, however, mirror Sidious' opinion that they are one of the more reliable online VG retailers, and I think that is actually where they are trying to focus. Which makes sense, it's often more convenient for the customer and it is cheaper for EB/Gamestop which means higher profits. I stand by my opinion that there is room online or in the brick and mortar market for a good videogame retailer, if you are interested in starting that up give me a ring and we'll put something together.

P.S. FFXII really is that good, it feels like it's been forever since the last "real" Final Fantasy, it's good to be back.

Re: I hate Gamestop

Incog, while I certainly share your pain at the inability of both Gamestop and EB to make good on their promises, I must say that I think things are moving in the right direction (at least online). I certainly don't know their business plan better than anyone else, but it seems to me that they are really starting to emphasize their online storefront over their brick and mortar stores (Anyone here have any luck finding a hot game at one of the actual stores on the day of its release? Not me.). Online, however, they have been really responsive to any complaints I have had against them (going so far as to discount shipping and a portion of the sales price), and for better or worse they are the most reliable online video game retailer out there. Still I know what it means to not get a AAA title the day you think you were going to. So in the words of Clinton, "I feel your pain."

I hate Gamestop

If I'm going to pre-order something online, I have one simple expectation: when the game is released, it will be shipped to me. Well, Neverwinter Nights 2 was supposed to ship October 31st, and it is now officially November 1st. Guess what? My copy of Neverwinter Nights 2 has yet to be shipped. What do they want from me? I pre-ordered this MORE THAN A MONTH AGO! I am so sick of the way Gamestop does business. You know what? I'm done with them. From this moment forward, Gamestop will not get any more of my money. I'll go to Best Buy, or Target, or Walmart, or wherever. No more pre-order crap, no more employees giving me attitude about buying the EA hockey game instead of the Sega one, and no more demo kiosks that are always turned off (what's the deal with that?).