Posted by Nick on Monday, May 10, 2010Finally, Photo Dojo is out. I heard about this months ago, played it at PAX, and now it's out. For the next couple weeks, it's free to download from DSi Ware. I suggest you check it out!
LittleBigPlanet 2?
Posted by Nick on Monday, May 10, 2010I've consistently said there won't be a true LittleBigPlanet 2. MediaMolecule would not want to split the community and do anything to upset the ongoing ecosystem.
Now, however, news of LittleBigPlanet 2 got a little bit more plausible. Although the actual magazine isn't out yet, an advance look of an upcoming GameInformer issue appears to confirm that there is a sequel. Of sorts.
From the sound of things, the level editor is going to be miles beyond even the impressive editor in the first game. There's even mention of a working Command and Conquer clone? This I would have to see.
But no news on whether LBP2 would just plug into the existing network, allowing the two titles to share levels and content. At least there is word you can port your characters from one to another. Given that LBP is the only game I've ever gained Platinum on, I want to keep the streak going.
Update, it's for reals.
Free Release of Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries Available
Posted by Nick on Thursday, May 6, 2010Released way back in 2002, Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries is my favorite in the giant- walking-robot-shooter genre. I played the game's single-player campaign easily a half-dozen times, enjoying the campaign missions and the ability to salvage mechs and use those parts on your own rigs.
Now it's back, and it's free. The brilliant team at Mektek have lobbied Microsoft Game Studios to give up the code and release it free of charge. You can get it here. In addition to the game's stock missions and mechs, the Mektek team's additional mech packs are part of the distribution, bringing the total equipment available to astronomical levels.
If you've never played the game, now is as good a time as any. The jury's still out if we'll see the promising MW5 reboot, but at least we have MW4:Mercs to tide us over.
Engineer Gets His Due
Posted by Nick on Thursday, May 6, 2010Finally in the works is the Team Fortress 2 Engineer Update. Long wished for, the newly-released video is our confirmation:
Are we past update 100 yet?
Update: Yeah, 119. Whoops!
Tecmo Bowl Throwback Released
Posted by Nick on Friday, April 30, 2010To little fanfare, Tecmo Bowl Throwback was released yesterday on Xbox Live, and, supposedly, the Playstation Network. I've been watching my PS3, but still no love yet. But look out! It's imminent. I can't wait to go crazy with the Chiefs.
Guild Wars Designer Details Combat System
Posted by Nick on Thursday, April 29, 2010Welcome to Milden Gaming, an adjunct blog of ArenaNet.
*ahem*
The second part of the Guild Wars 2 combat system series from Eric Flannum, lead designer of Guild Wars 2, released today. The first part was released yesterday. In concert, the two articles detail a lot of the high-level concepts behind the combat system in Guild Wars 2, bringing some exciting and fundamental changes to the system.
First of all, the skill system has expanded from eight to ten skills available in a character load-out. Interestingly, five skills are determined by the weapons and class of the character itself. Weapons range from the sets that existed in the first game, and add new ranged options such as the single-handed pistol, double-handed rifle, and a new two-handed melee weapon, the greatsword. The choice of weapon then determines which skills fill out the first half of the skill bar. The other five can be chosen by the player.
Elite skills seem to be even more serious than the previous game. Still limited to one on the skill bar, the elite skills will likely have even greater impact on the game, but used less frequently, to make them seem more special.
Along with the changes to skills, the use of physical space and motion seems to be increasingly important in GW2. The designer uses an example of an attack that causes a character to leap up in the air after a team-mate used a skill to launch it skyward. There are also possibilities for environmental weapons. A character might pick up a boulder with a skill, or man a siege weapon, modifying the skill bar in a manner seen when assuming different forms in Eye of the North. Along with area-of-effect and flanking maneuvering, the use of space in Guild Wars 2 is light years beyond most games, even single-player titles.
The changes seem like great evolutionary steps in refining and bringing more options to the table in Guild Wars 2. I'm excited to see what more changes bring to the overall framework.
My 5th Birthday Present
Posted by Nick on Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Say hello to my little friend! It's my 5th birthday present on my main character in Guild Wars. Pretty cool, I think.
Five Years of Integrity and Fair Play
Posted by Nick on Wednesday, April 28, 2010Guild Wars turns five this week. Actually I think it was April 22nd, but close enough. The game for me was an incredible experience, a giant world to explore and share with my friends, or strike out alone on my own to overcome any obstacle and make a name for myself.
The victories in the game were sweet. Conquering the core story missions, perfecting missions, clearing elite zones, vanquishing zones, and gaining titles. A successful dungeon delve, made possible with Eye of the North, was the best kind of experience, bringing an almost table-top RPG feel to video games.
There were frustrating times, too, not due to the framework of the game, but within the game, failures to prepare and react. The failures were fair, and never took away from the game, and in fact allowed you to keep playing even though you'd failed. This type of measured penalty, when other games, especially MMOs, imposed crushing penalties in the event of player failure and death, really opened up the game to me, allowing me and my colleagues to venture farther and wider without fear.
So it's with great hope that I read words from the Guild Wars II developers and smile, because it seems that they're at it again. Five years ago they broke away from all the things that made MMOs no fun to me, and they continue to rethink what it means to play in a persistent world.
I loved Guild Wars combat for the skills system. At the time, I was huge into Magic: The Gathering, and I saw the parallels from a very high level. In Guild Wars, you got to go out and collect the "cards" and build your "deck", where the cards were skills (usually elite ones) and your deck was your character's skill-set itself. It was hugely compelling to me, and to a lot of people, where you get to set things up the way you want while coming up with clever interactions. Guild Wars II takes that a step further by increasing the physics of the situation, by allowing objects and effects to interact the way you think they would, with conjured clouds and whatever. Add into that the increased amount of customization that come with a total of five races and so many classes, and you have a great mix to play the way you want.
One of the things that really hooked me in Guild Wars was that it merged online play with a single-player story experience. Especially in the first game, the sweeping, epic story of the fall of Ascalon and the flight westward really captured me. With Guild Wars 2, there will be even deeper story immersion, and it will come out with the choices that you make in the game itself. In Mass Effect 2 style, the story will wrap itself around your character, rather than the other way around. This, maybe more than anything else new, is what gets me the most excited.
A new way to play the game with other human players also promises to change the entire landscape within Guild Wars 2. The developers have talked a lot about wide open expanses and encounters involving dozens or hundreds of people. They system that they intend to set up will allow players to group organically rather than pair off into a bunch of five-man groups. When a huge monster sweeps down on a trade route, nobody travelling through is going to shout "Healer LFG" or "Group LF tank 7/8". Everyone's just gonna grab their weapons and start beating the crap out of the baddie. Healers will heal, tanks will tank, wizards will nuke. Under the GWII system, everyone who participated in the fight will get rewards. No kill-stealing, no loot-ganking. Doesn't that sound like a ton of fun?
In short, Guild Wars II promises to be an evolution, not a remake, of the first game. But it continues the core belief of fun and fair play, building a system where players can help each other rather than be huge jerks. There's no subscription fee. There's no competition for areas and monsters. Loot and character levels take a sideline to skill and planning. Sounds like fun to me.
More Details and Video for Okamiden
Posted by Nick on Monday, April 26, 2010Another game I mentioned in my Top 10 for 2010, Okamiden is the sequel to the PS2 (and subsequent Wii port) Okami, first released in 2006. While at this point unlikely to come to the US in this calendar year, it should come out in Japan this year.
Kotaku released a short feature with a play-through of some of the game's sequences. The new video shown really highlights the bright and colorful art design, bringing the descendants of the previous game to life. The control scheme of the stylus and control pad lend themselves perfectly as an input method, allowing the drawing of spells on the touch screen with unprecedented accuracy. The combat itself looks great, similar to the previous title, still quick and acrobatic as it was on the PS2. Should be an excellent sequel and fun in its own right, whenever it does release outside of Japan.
Nintendo 3DS This Year?
Posted by Nick on Wednesday, April 21, 2010I've been following news of the 3DS for some time, ever since the official announcement from Nintendo. The official press release said that the new hardware was supposed to be shown in the flesh at the 2010 E3 and out by March 2011. However, a new update suggests that Nintendo may beat their prediction and release the hardware by October. Whether this is just in Japan or in other markets is yet to be seen. But I'm increasingly interested in the handheld space, and a more full-featured Nintendo product that is backward compatible with the DS could replace my existing Lite. More info in June with E3.
Tecmo Bowl Throwback Achievements
Posted by Nick on Monday, April 19, 2010Real or fake, achievements have been announced for the upcoming Tecmo Bowl Throwback. As I'd previously posted, I'm certainly looking forward to the game. Tons of nostalgia and ripe for a remake. No release date yet announced, but I'm hoping that with the achievements coming out that it could be soon.
Changes Come to Kryta in Guild Wars Beyond
Posted by Nick on Friday, April 16, 2010New updates to GuildWars, possibly to coincide with the upcoming fifth anniversary of the game, center around the ongoing conflict in Kryta and the war between the Shining Blades and the White Mantle. Still not entirely sure what the updates mean specifically, but keep an eye on the game updates page for more details. Today, you can get your White Mantle or Shining Blade character costumes; what they mean for the future is unknown.
Hey Look a Wii Game: Lost in Shadows
Posted by Nick on Friday, April 16, 2010Little bit of old news, but a game that I haven't seen before and may be coming out in the next few months. Previously known as Tower of Shadow, the game Lost in Shadows is a puzzle platformer with an interesting twist: you are a shadow yourself, cast against the background of the game world. I see a major Team Ico influence, but I think it's an homage rather than a straight-up ripoff. The screens I've seen are just pretty. Should be something to watch.
A New Ferrari For Everyone!
Posted by Nick on Friday, April 16, 2010... Well, everyone who works at Blizzard.
I feel like I was just talking about this, but they're at it again. With new pets and mounts put up on the in-game store, Blizzard made a blizzillion bucks at it. Hope they find a good use for the money, like using it for insulation in their secret volcano lair.
Circle Back Around on Valkyria Chronicles
Posted by Nick on Friday, April 16, 2010One of my most favoritist games on PS3 is still Valkyria Chronicles. Certainly under-appreciated in the west, probably because it's not Modern Warfare, the game pushes all the right buttons for me: tactical turn-based combat, great art style, a good story, compelling characters. I haven't gotten any new games since March's Pokemon HeartGold, so I was looking through the box to break something old out. And Valkyria Chronicles was there.
Started from my cleared game save data and started a new game. There's a higher challenge level on the second play through, and it allows you to skip straight to the combat missions without having to watch each cutscene, although I've enjoyed still watching my favorites. You also start with all your squads leveled up and with any weapons you've collected along the way. I had fun playing through the first couple story missions, and I hope to keep going with it if time allows. Really puts a smile on my face. Except in the sad parts where I :(
For any of you new PS3 owners who haven't heard about or checked the game out, you really should. I'll even let you borrow my copy!
Get Ready to Pay $100, WoW Fans
Posted by Nick on Thursday, April 8, 2010With news reaching us that the StarCraft II Collector's Edition now comes with a WoW in-game pet, my prediction is this: a lot of people with more money than sense buying the game for $100, plucking the card with code for said pet out of the nice shiny box, and then throwing the rest in the trash.
My feelings for StarCraft II are well-known. But the pet included in the box is both a shameless hook to bait WoW players and a smack in the face to anyone who really cares anything about StarCraft without caring a whit about MMO-based garbage. What a ploy to gain sales. Notwithstanding that the base SCII package is $59.99, approximately $10 more than other PC titles and approximately $59.99 more than I intend to pay for anything coming from Blizzard.
Ah well. Frankly I just liked to have things to complain about. If you like StarCraft, go crazy buying three games each for $100. Maybe you can put someone at Blizzard over the edge to get their third Ferrari.
Five Years in Tyria
Posted by Nick on Wednesday, April 7, 2010The end of April marks the fifth anniversary of Guild Wars, five years of gameplay in the best MMO experience ever, in my opinion. Although I haven't been back to the game in several months, I have many fond memories of April Fool's events, many dungeon delves, title accomplishments, fissure runs, and so much more. It's been a game great to play with friends and alone, with the satisfying action-based combat and customizable character skill sets that I enjoy.
Even better has been the price. Yes I ponied up for the first game and three expansions to the tune of $200. But, had I been paying a subscription for the game these entire five years, assuming the going rate of $14.95, I would be out an additional $897. Even for the fun times I had in Guild Wars, that's a pretty steep price.
With Guild Wars 2 potentially out next year, this is a scary figure. If NCSoft moves to some sort of subscription service, I will not be playing Guild Wars 2. Let's hope it doesn't come to that. But in any case, I'll always have my memories of the five years in Tyria.
Outstanding Gameplay Footage of Other M
Posted by Nick on Thursday, April 1, 2010Although Other M was non-existent at PAX East, a new video has surfaced of gameplay from the game that makes me even more excited for this upcoming Wii title. View it below (live game starting 30 seconds in):
Really looks great. Fast but measured 2.5D action combat, great boss fights, vibrant environments, and that great switch into first-person 3D view. This one is on the list for sure.
PAX East 2010 Final Day
Posted by Nick on Wednesday, March 31, 2010Sunday was the best day. It's too bad that just as we got into the swing of things we had to wrap it all up. I started the day in the pitch your game idea panel, which was hilarious. The best idea and winner was iDrag, in which you use your iPhone as a way to connect with other players and then drag race. Probably illegal, but still has some hilarious potential.
Directly folling that panel was the Sunday PA Q&A which was really funny. There were a lot of words of thanks for setting up PAX East, several thank you's for the work done for Child's Play, and a lot of hilarious moments including a challenge for Mike and Jerry to arm wrestle. Mike won, but Jerry was quite worried that even in losing he may have damaged his gravy train's drawing implement. Maybe a tactical error, there.
After the panel I wandered around and got some merch. Went over to MC Frontalot's booth and said hey, got his new album Zero Day and a t-shirt, thanked him for the great show and went on my merry way. Picked up a PAX East shirt, had to do that of course.
The closing ceremony was later in the day, in which the final teams of Omeganauts battled for first place. Their trial was a relay of NES games, going in order from Super Mario Brothers to Rad Racer to Tetris and finally to Contra. The battle was tough and fraught with technical difficulties, ending in somewhat of a controversy, but it was entertaining nontheless. With a promise to meet back in one year, PAX came to a close.
We didn't want Sunday to end, so even after the actual event was over we gamed late into the night in the Boston Sheraton lobby. More Settlers of Cataan was played. We even tried to get Wil Wheaton to play with us, but he was pretty wiped out. I can't blame him. But even the fact that the conversation happened is the real reason for PAX -- getting together and acting like a real community. And I came away with the same feeling that Wil did. Gamers, as a group, are a welcoming bunch, and even though we're too often hanging out at home, when we get together, we're a close-knit group willing to put a lot of other things aside to accept other people and have fun.
Monday showed its face with rain and cold winds, the emotions of sadness at the end of the event made real in the very atmosphere. But we pressed on, ever westward, back home into the embrace of our loved ones. The promise remains -- let the accepting spirit of PAX live on in the days between in all that you do, act as Wil says and don't be a dick, until once again you can be welcomed home at another PAX.
PAX East 2010 Friday and Saturday
Posted by Nick on Tuesday, March 30, 2010Friday was the actual beginning of the con. I spent the morning walking in Boston, and checked out the Boston Public Library. There is some incredible artwork and architecture in the building, I highly suggest checking it out. Then it was back to the convention center for the start of the show.
This began the first part of standing around in lines. This was a big part of the experience. I liked the games that were done in the queue room, but after a couple days it got to be a little bit stale. There's a real opportunity for other vendors to leverage this time to do game demos and presentations. Wizards of the Coast could pick a couple people out of the audience and teach Magic the Gathering, or a game development company could do a live demo. There's a lot of time that vendors could reach a lot of people, and the people in line could be entertained while they wait. I felt this was a big missed opportunity.
After a bit of a wait (actually a couple hours) we finally got into the convention center proper. I went straight up to the expo hall and checked it out. I was a little underwhelmed with the Nintendo booth, but started my crazy campaign of Pokewalker connections. Went over and checked out the Split/Second demo which I really liked. However, I waited too long and didn't make it into the Wil Wheaton keynote, which kind of bummed me out. I heard it was fantastic.
Hung out in the handheld area for a bit, no one was really working on anything, and then met up with the rest of the crew later. We toured the expo hall and checked things out, then grabbed dinner at the mall. Back to the expo for another wait in line, and we prepped for the Friday night concerts starring the Protomen, Anamanaguchi, Metroid Metal, and MC Frontalot. Frontalot especially, being one of the biggest reasons I'd come to PAX. The wait was killer, things were late getting started, and I was kind of bummed to wait so long. But finally things got kicked off, and the longer the show went on, the better things got.
Finally MC Frontalot came on, and the show was great. He performed several songs from the new album Zero Day, full of great tracks. I picked the album up at the convention, even though it's not out yet, yay! I especially liked his performance of First World Problem from the show and of course the Penny Arcade Theme. I went to bed happy at 2am, and only the first day was over.
Saturday dawned late, since most of us were wrecked. I got to the floor late, and saw my first glimpses of some of the great cosplayers: dudes in Gears of War and Fallout 3 armor, ladies in Bayonetta getup, partners and groups. Cool to see. Went back to the expo hall, hung out in the room for a bit, and then back down to get our game on. We played a couple games of Settlers of Cataan, a couple with complete strangers. That was a ton of fun. All throughout PAX we had people asking us to game with them, it was a great community. We played Settlers to finish out the night, and went back to the room to crash in prep for the last day.
PAX Trip, Day 2
Posted by Nick on Thursday, March 25, 2010Had a great second day of travel from Cleveland to Boston. The travel was very smooth, made it from Cleveland to Boston in an unheard-of eleven hours. Especially with stops, that was some incredible time.
Once we got to the train stop, we were pleasantly surprised by the area we parked in. Nice new condos in a cool suburb. Great place to place our rides. We then took the train ride into Boston, which was pretty easy. We then took a short walk to our hotel, stopping to see a Mercedes SLK 55 on the way in, very nice. The city was crazy busy but the walk was good.
After we got into the hotel, we set our stuff down in our rooms. Unfortunately, our room wasn't going to work for three large men, and we managed to get switched to a suite. Great luck.
Then we decided to go out to eat. Got a good tip from the hotel, went to a place called Bukowski's, which was a tiny little bar but served food as well. Got a great stout called Murphy's, a nitro blend that was super-smooth. We were trying to meet another group who was wandering around slightly lost in Boston, and were holding a table for them. However, as we were holding the table, I saw a familiar face come into the place -- Wil Wheaton. No joke. The waitress was trying to find a spot for them, came over to us and said "Could they have this table?" I just about fell over myself offering up our table, sacrificing our friends spots for Wil. We tried to be cool through dinner, and once he got up to leave I told him good luck at the speech. He said thanks and said that he was nervous but was finally getting excited for it. It was pretty cool to met him, he seemed like a cool guy, and I'm glad he's going to be giving the keynote for PAX as one of the voices of the PA nation.
Afterwards, geeking out about meeting an icon, we all came back to the hotel, had some shots, and are currently hanging out in the hotel. Hell of a great first day, and it can only possibly get better from here.
PAX Trip Begins Today!
Posted by Nick on Wednesday, March 24, 2010Finally heading out for the biggest nerd convention ever tonight. Massive road trip out east to Boston. It's going to be epic.
Games I hope to see:
Nintendo -- Other M and Mario Galaxy 2 demos
2k Games -- Civilization V
Ubisoft -- Prince of Persia
Twisted Pixel -- Comic Jumper
SCEA -- Maybe, just maybe, a GT V demo?
Acts and panels I hope to see:
Uber-geek Wil Wheaton talk at the keynote
MC Frontalot rock the mic, like instead of a silence
Bill Amend talk about his dead-tree comic at a convention founded by guys who make a digital comic
A PA panel of some sort
There's a ton of other things going down, and of course all the free play opportunities: throw down in some Smash Brothers, battle pokemans, get a game of Settlers going, and maybe play D&D several hundred miles from home. The trip starts tonight, arriving in Boston on Thursday, with the con officially kicking off Friday. It's going to be like nothing else.
Oh Yeah, By The Way...
Posted by Nick on Tuesday, March 16, 2010... Apparently C&C 4 comes out today. Clearly I couldn't be bothered to pay attention, since there are approximately eleven million games more interesting. Although there are no reviews up anywhere, it's not looking promising. This last chapter of the Command and Conquer saga could be a real stinker.
Heavy Rain Complete
Posted by Nick on Tuesday, March 16, 2010I knew I was getting toward the end, but didn't know it was just about done. I finished Heavy Rain last night, and finally got down to the truth of the story. Expertly well done, great conclusion to the story, and as tragic as the events were, a pretty happy ending, mostly. Glad to see that the loose ends were tied up well in an epilogue of sorts, allowing you to enjoy your victory (or stare on in chagrin at your defeat). As I thought, Kasey did have her theory straight way before I had worked things out. I knew I kept her around for a reason.
Overall, the game is a big success. It keeps you tied to the stories and the characters that populate it, and really care about what happens to them. Even if the controls occasionally made me wander around like an idiot in the free-move mode, the quick-time events and on-rails sections are so superb it's worth the tiny frustration to get the game to its close.
I can't wait to discuss my version of the game's events with other players to see how what I did influenced the story.
Heavy Rain Filling Up My Evenings
Posted by Nick on Monday, March 15, 2010Started playing Heavy Rain this weekend, and I just about can't stop. From the beginning the game gripped me with its visuals, control scheme, interesting and deep character cast, and mysterious story. I've played about five hours so far, and there have been so many good moments. It's hard to talk about the game without giving much away, so I won't post specifics, but there have been so many interesting and novel elements in the game, combined with so much emotional impact. It's really an amazing example of the new type of story-driven gaming we've seen from the likes of Quantic Dream and BioWare. If your tastes lie somewhere between story-driven shooters, mystery novels, and interactive media, the melding of media within Heavy Rain is not to be missed.
