E3: Day 1 Microsoft Press Conference

Here’s the report of Day 1:

Microsoft Press Conference (10:25 - 12:30 PT):

Microsoft’s 2 hour opening of the show, kicked off with the first reveal of The Beatles Rockband. With guest appearances from George Harrison’s son and wife, Yoko Ono and then the appearance of Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr themselves who had a small awkward seeming banter with the audience. This game will obviously be more of the same Rockband formula with the addition of multiple vocals being included for harmonising and what appears to be a massive fan service to anyone of the Beatle mania persuasion.

The Microsoft conference then went on to be hosted by Corporate Vice President for Xbox John Schappert.

Next up was the announcement that 10 brand new titles will be shown in Microsoft’s press conference and that they were going to be focussing on showing us things rather than a bunch of stats. It was clear that Microsoft was trying to go down a new route for the show and that interactivity is the new focus and business area that the company will be focusing on.

The first game up, was Tony Hawk Ride, which had the man himself come out to talk about. The new direction that the game seems to be going down, is that of using a skateboard peripheral (sans wheels) to control your in game character. The peripheral itself, meets today’s standards of being jam packed with extra tech like accelerometers (for movement and flips) and infa red sensors to the sides of the board to detect hand movements which will correspond to in game grabs etc.
  After Tony’s chat, a video rolled with other pro skaters trying out the board to some in game footage which looked very much as you would expect from the long running skateboard series.

Next on the block was fan favourite and much wanted sequel Modern Warfare 2, opening first with a trailer showing in game footage as well as a barrage of different locales, castles, ruined buildings and under water areas in conditions ranging from sunny to snowy, culminating in the trailer ending with the release date of 11.10.09.
  Jason West and Vince Campella of Infinity Ward then came out and with no fuss, went straight into a hands on play test of the game which seemed like the opening of a snow based mission. The player character slowly ascended a cliff face, in full mountain gear, following a secondary soldier character, showing a plane fly in overhead sweeping said character back down the mountain. Moments later, the npc was saving you from a fatal descent after having to leap to an icy cliff face with dual ice picks, only to slide fifteen feet downwards before almost falling to your doom. The demo then cut to an assault on a factory (still thick in snowfall) that seemed under siege, with the player laying down covering fire as you and your team mate tried to escape. Resulting in one point being chased by soldiers on jet ski like snowmobiles, only to neutralise said pursuers before continuing to flee on the newly captured vehicles, leading to a further vehicular chase scenario.
  The pair then left the podium for it then to be revealed that two exclusive map packs will be revealed for Modern Warfare 2 on the Xbox 360.

Following from one of last years big E3 announcements, Yoshinori Kitase and Motomu Toriyama of Square Enix came out to show the first running footage of Final Fantasy 13 on xbox 360. A small piece of in game video (FMA) showed hero characters Lightning and Suggs (with accompanying Chocobo) fleeing, only to be faced with their pursuer which then blended seamlessly into a playable battle against the giant mecha bot, controlled by Toriyama san. Differences were noted from what had been disclosed previously, one such difference being the inclusion of 4 active time gauges, which results in more complex and consecutive attacks. The battle was finished quickly, by the demonstration of one of the series trademark summons Odin, being revealed exclusively to the world for the first time.
  Kitase san wrapped things up with the announcement of a release date of Spring 2010.

It was then announced by John Schappert that every game shown from here on in the presentation would be exclusive to xbox 360

To get the Xbox exclusives rolling, Donald Mustard  from Chair Entertainment and Cliff Bleszinski (Cliffy B) from Epic took to the stand to inform of their newest Xbox live arcade collaboration, titled; Shadow Complex. Having microphone difficulties, Donald was hard to make out, but was informing that the game took inspirations from titles such as Castlevania and Metroid infuse them with more modern innovations and have it all running off of Unreal engine 3. With a general spy type premise, the game focuses on using the environment to your advantage and more of the game opens up with item and weapon collection, such as a foam gun, that can be used for cover, or to create platforms to reach higher areas. Cliffy B goes on to take over talking about the game as Donald plays and informs that the game has many unlockables (over 120) and that the main game is over 10 hours in length. The game also look very good for an arcade title and is due out this Summer.

John Schappert came back to announce a free game for download that will be available to all 360 live users that will utilise the avatars entitled: Joy Ride, a car racing game for your avatars that has a visual style that you would usually associate with Pixar and fits the avatars well. The game will sport customisable vehicles and have downloadable tracks, that can be raced on with friends, regardless of whether they have downloaded the content or not. Joy Ride will be available this Winter.

Next up, with the mention of favourite franchises, came a trailer for Crackdown 2, which seemed very much like the Real Time Worlds experience that came before it, with a new darker threat being on the cards, but still being more of the same game that Crackdown was. It was also shown that the main character was one of four, hinting at possible 4 player multiplayer (which leads nicely to the next trailer).

Left For Dead 2 was shown in more of a teaser trailer format but still gave some information, such as a New Orleans setting and southern drawled character, who narrated. The trailer showed an onslaught of zombies, including one who seemed like a tank with an extra large arm, before showing a shot of what will most likely be the new cast of characters all wielding weapons that weren’t firearms, including the zombie enthusiasts favourite, the chainsaw as well as an axe, metal poles as well as a frying pan, implying a more melee based combat system on top of all the gun blazing. The trailer finished with a release date of November 17th.
 
A trailer for Splinter Cell Conviction then ran, which came across in a similar feel to 24 and was quite substantially different than the footage that had been shown previously of the game. As the trailer ended, Maxime Beland and Alexandre Parizeau from Ubisoft came on to demonstrate and explain the game. Some interesting features that they demonstrated was the immersive method they are using to integrate the games story and objectives, which included being projected onto walls, that then faded in non intrusive manners. Dialogue is now much more shorter and is played out in game in real time.
  The story has changed in that Sam now no longer has the agency to help him so changes have been made, he is now quicker and stronger and has a new function know as “mark and execute”, which is a two step procedure that gives the player more control in being able to tag an enemy and light before entering a room, so that focus will immediately turn to both these items as you burst through a door, leading to a quick lights out then execute of a target. Each area is touted as being a small sandbox area so that different methods of infiltration and execution can be achieved. The usual barrage of gadgets along with some new ones will be available for Sam to utilise.

Discussed by Dan Greenwalt who appeared on stage alongside a very nice motor of his own, racer sequel Forza Motorsport 3 was shown, with a heavy emphasis being on its community aspects and user created content, going on to show an additional video showing numerous people discussing the professionalism of customising in game cars using the in game art tools to create custom paintjobs for its many car makes and models with top end graphics. A video was then shown demonstrating the potential of the in game video editor which led to a very fun and novel video, showing cars spinning in and out of each other all from in game footage.

Joe Staten proceeded with big announcements on behalf of Bungie for the much fabled Halo franchise. Including a hands on demo of Halo 3: ODST followed by the unveiling of the secret project Halo: Reach (which had been suspected due to a recent security leak that implied it).
  The footage of Halo 3: ODST was well received as it stays close to Halo roots, trying a few new things. One example being multiple visors with different HUDs. One revealed an item that when investigated would trigger a separate flashback mission of an ODST soldier connected with the item. This results in the overall story being pieced together through numerous flashbacks and the main character acting as a playable hub to other parts of the game. Other modes will be shown at E3 for the game and it was also mentioned that the game will be released 22nd of September (09.22.09).
  The teaser trailer for Halo: Reach, showed Earth being attacked, with grand explosions going up around the planet and hints that the game will be set at the point of attack at the beginning of the Halo storyline. The trailer fades out to the message, falls 2010.
Joe finishes by stating that, much like with Halo 3 and Crackdown, that when you purchase Halo 3: ODST, you will get an invite to the Halo: Reach multiplayer Beta.

Sam Lake from Remedy came on to show and demo a lengthy hands on version of Alan Wake, which looks very good and dark and seems to show a lot of footage of certain people/monsters with a strong aversion to light which can be utilised by Alan in the form of a torch, floodlights or a flare gun to kill or weaken them. Other weaponry, such as a shotgun was used to kill the enemies once they had been weakened by the light. The game seems to heavily use the light idea and incorporates it into its puzzles. The demonstration concluded with a release announcement of Spring 2010.

The game announcements stop for a while as John Schappert moves the presentation onto the other features of Xbox lives service including the additions of features and integrations of other services into xbox live for no additional charge.
  In the form of music, Last fm will be integrated with its vast library of tracks and MP3s. For Movies and TV, the integration of a refined Netflix and Sky TV will be included so that countless amounts of films and TV shows will be available as well as being able to watch live television for the first time on a games console. IT was also mentioned that not only will you be able to do this solo, but also whilst partying up with friends.
  John further went on to talk about Microsoft’s own services and mentioned that the have been listening to current users and have made some changes based on feedback and a rebranding to Zune media will occur, such as having all their video content at full 1080P HD, as well as eliminating downloading times by making all video instantaneous presumably through streaming, finally it was mentioned that the user base will expand to eighteen countries around the world.
  Finally the integration of social networking sites was promised and with help from Felicia Day, Partnerships with Facebook and Twitter for Xbox were demonstrated. The Facebook design for Xbox live is uniquely designed to be attuned for a console rather than PC but still holds all the key features. One new feature shown was Facebook connect that allows pictures and texts from games to be displayed on Facebook. Similar features and design choices seem to have been taken with Twitter as well. Felicia finished by announcing that the social networks will be available this fall/autumn.

Senior Vice President Don Mattrick  was brought out to make a special announcement. He asked the audience what is the one  blockbuster franchise that every 360 owner has always wanted to play? Only to be tapped on the shoulder, to the sound of an exclamation mark, by Hideo Kojima who proudly announces that he is bringing the Metal Gear Solid series to 360. The crowd erupts and Kojima san goes on to state that the next instalment of Metal Gear will be known as Metal Gear Solid Rising and is currently in development for 360. Don then thanks Kojima san for Metal Gear and welcomes the series to 360 and states he cannot wait to see what the next game hold for Solid Snake. Only for Hideo to interrupt by informing “but Don, I didn’t say anything about solid snake” He smiles, then a teaser trailer runs with super crisp visuals showing close ups of a cyborg body, interspersed with shots of Japanese characters and the letters of rising being revealed. The camera pans out to reveal a half cyborg man with white hair and an eye covered, the title is announced and as it fades out a the voice over states Raiden is back. Hideo finishes by saying that he cannot reveal anymore but the game will be an entirely new Metal Gear experience.

The Final 25 minutes of the presentation was dedicated to Microsoft’s biggest announcement. Was it the motion controller that a lot of people suspected it to be, that desire to do as Sony did and jump on Nintendo’s coat tails? NO it was one better!

Don gave a small speech regarding how limiting a controller can be and what if they were to just get rid of, this then went into a trailer unveiling Microsoft’s biggest unveiling and potentially the biggest announcement of the show…..the Natal.
  The trailer, done in the style of a Nintendo ad, crossed with their own latest ad campaign, starts with a sleepy young man walking past his television, only to be recognised and challenged, by name, by the on screen character. the sleepy man accepts and the game starts, with the man assuming a fighting stance, that is mimicked by an on screen avatar. Both He and thus his avatar kick and the challenger is defeated. The ad then moves on to a family, one member of which is miming holding a steering wheel, as she turns, so dos the car, as she changes gears so does the avatars arms on screen. As she goes in for a pit stop, another member of the family, gets up and moves towards the screen and mimes changing and reapplying bolt to a tyre and wheel, which is duplicated by actions happening on screen, this done to show the potential for multiplayer games and thus multi-person recognition. Further examples in the ad, show a child flailing about as a monster on screen imitates his moves and a two player version of football. A message then comes up that states ”use your own stuff” where a boy shows a skateboard to the screen and says scan. moments later it is selectable for him to use. Next sees a girl walk up to the TV, which recognises her and signs into her profile before going o to show her connect to an online friend using vocal commands. The friend then selects through a series of outfits with a wave of the hand to cycle through and when one is chosen, the initial user grabs and drops the outfit onto an avatar with a mime from the hand. As she turns, so does the avatar now wearing the chosen outfit. Next is a family quiz game with everyone pretending to hold a buzzer, then pressing down when they know the answer to the question being announced by the game. The answer is spoken, then verified by the game. Finally a couple are seen selecting through the Xbox menus systems with a swoosh of the hand up or down and a vocal command to select a movie, before finishing off with a shot of the Natal peripheral itself, a long bar, with two cameras that sits underneath the TV. 

Don then explains that this is the vision that Microsoft has for the future and that the Natal will be compatible with every Xbox released so far.
  Steven Spielberg then comes out to discuss how movies and literature are simple to enjoy but that gaming still has a stigma attached with a complexity that puts people off and that project Natal is the way forward to break down this barrier. Spielberg compares the jump in technology to that of the jump to Imax for the movie industry.

The creative director, Kudo Tsunoda for project Natal then was brought out to show off some tech demos and to show how real the technology actually is currently. First up was a dashboard demo that automatically recognised Kudo and signed him in. With his avatar now signed in, it was moving in real time to the exact (mostly) movements that he himself was doing. He then went on to show movement throughout the dashboard by swiping his hand up and down to move between categories and then left and right to move between options within those categories, before selecting the ricochet demo with a punch.
  The demo consisted of a basic game of firing balls down a hallway which hit bricks and bounced back, the demonstrator moved as a see through avatar mimicked her moves. If she hit hard, then the ball moved faster.
  The second tech demo was called paint party and was demonstrated by having a digital canvas and physically mimicking throwing paint at the screen to create pictures. Colours were selected by stating the colour before throwing. The paint itself acted in a realistic liquid manner by actually splashing on the canvas. Smaller movements of the hand also resulted in more finer detail and less paint being added. The demonstrators also created a silhouette of an elephant by capturing the physical shape of their body, the silhouette was then filled in and added to the main picture.

The Microsoft conference was concluded by Don Mattrick handing over to Lionhead’s Peter Molyneux to show how Natal can be incorporated into games. Peter came on to state that the technology is pretty revolutionary and that control pads have been a big block a=in creating truly immersive games. He then went on to show a video of Lionhead working with Natal technology, resulting in a project named Milo. A character who can recognise the user of the software, from voice to face to emotion. It then showed a demonstration of a woman named Claire introducing Milo to us.
  Claire started by saying hello to Milo, who was playing on a swing and asked him how he was doing. He responded by getting off the swing saying hello back, whilst addressing Claire by her name and asked if she was ok. Claire states that she is nervous, which Milo recognises and responds by saying that he doesn’t believe that she is nervous. Claire goes on by saying that this is the first time that people will see this to which Milo responds thousands of people. What this is demonstrating is that the two, the real Claire and the fictional Milo are having a real time conversation dependant entirely on what the other is saying. Not only that but the emotion is being recognised by Milo and reflected in his own face as well. The pair continue to converse and Claire agrees to help Milo with his homework and at one point Milo is seen throwing a pair of goggles towards Claire who instinctively go to catch them. Peter states in the video that everyone who interacts with Milo, always goes to catch what he throws. The screen pans down to a stream of water and Milo instructs Claire to put her hands in. We can see a very realistic reflection of Claire within the realistic water and as she moves her hands in towards the screen ripples appear and move along with her hand movements. Finally Milo asks Claire to draw a picture of a fish, as she does so, she is mentioning the parts of the fish she is drawing, she then moves the picture to the top of the screen where the Natal peripheral (and thus camera) is located, as she does so, Milo moves his hand to the same position on screen. In that instant, the camera scans in the picture and transfers it to a virtual piece of paper, which is taken by Milo who then examines it and recognises the picture as a fish.
  Peter finishes up by stating that this technology is real and ready to use today and that it will be demonstrated on the E3 floors later in the Expo.

Finally Dan Mattrick, sums up the press conference by making reference to most of the big announcements in a very upbeat fashion and wishes everyone a good E3.

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Multiformat Breakdown: April & May

I thought I would post some release dates of up and coming games across all formats for the rest of the month as well as some titles for next month too.

April

24th April: Damnation - (PC, PS3,360)
24th April: Dance Party Club Hits - (PS2, Wii)
24th April:Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 - (PS3, 360, PS2)
24th April: Little Kings Story - (Wii)

Little Kings Story

24th April:Marbles! Balance Challenge - (Wii)
24th April:New Play Control! Pikmin 2 - (Wii)
24th April: Star Ocean: The Last Hope - (360)
24th April:The Chronicles Of Riddick: Assault On Dark Athena  - (PC, PS3,360)

Chronicles Of Riddick: Assault On Dark Athena

24th April: Theatre Of War II: Africa 1943  - (PC)
28th April:Roogoo Attack - (DS)
30th April: Don King Presents Prizefighter - (Wii)
30th April: Flock! - (PC, PS3,360)
30th April:MotoGP - (Wii)
30th April: Rock Revolution - (DS, PS3, Wii)
TBA April:Championship Manager 2009 - (PC)

Championship Manager 2009

TBA April:Diabolik: The Original Sin - (MULTI)
TBA April: Stalin Vs Martians - (PC)

May

1st May: Aqua Panic - (DS)
1st May: Coraline - (DS, PS2 Wii)
1st May: Dogz - (Wii)
1st May: Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce - (PSP)
1st May: Gardening Mama - (DS)
1st May: Hanna Montana: The Movie Game - (MULTI)
1st May: Hell’s Kitchen - (PC)
1st May: Heroes - (PS3, 360)
1st May: Hysteria Hospital: Emergency Ward - (PC, DS, Wii)
1st May: Imagine Party Babyz - (Wii)
1st May: Leisure Suit Larry Box Office Bust - (PS3)
1st May: Lifesigns Hospital Affairs - (DS)
1st May: Petz My Monkey Family - (DS)
1st May: Rhythm Paradise - (DS)
1st May: Russell Grants Astrology - (DS)
1st May: X-Men Origins: Wolverine - (MULTI)

X - Men Origins: Wolverine

1st May: Yamaha Supercross - (PC, Wii)
8th May: Pool Hall Pro - (PC, Wii)
8th May: Secret File 2: Puritas Cordis - (PC, DS, Wii)
8th May: Unreal Anthology - (PC)
8th May: Velvet Assassin - (PC, 360)
8th May: Vertigo - (PC, Wii)
15th May: Battlestations: Pacific - (PC, 360)
15th May: Demigod - (PC)

Demigod

15th May: Left Brain Right Brain 2 - (DS)
15th May: Namco Museum Virtual Arcade - (360)
15th May: Rock Band 2 - (Wii)
15th May: Sacred 2: Fallen Angel - (PS3, 360)
15th May: Wonder World Amusement Park - (DS)
22nd May: Bionic Commando - (PC, PS3, 360)

Bionic Commando

22nd May: Diva Girls Making the Music - (DS)
22nd May: Horrible Histories Ruthless Romans - (DS, Wii)
22nd May: Line Rider 2: Unbound - (DS, Wii)
22nd May: Neopets Puzzle Adventure - (DS, PC, Wii)
22nd May: Pokemon Platinum - (DS)
22nd May: Purr Pals - (Wii)
22nd May: Skyscraper - (Wii)
22nd May: The Big Deal - (DS)
22nd May: UFC 2009 Undisputed - (PS3, 360)
22nd May: Urban Extreme - (Wii)
22nd May: Virtua Tennis 2009 - (PC, PS3, 360)

Virtua Tennis 3

29th May: Bob the Builder Festival of Fun - (Wii)
29th May: Boom Blox Bash Party - (Wii)
29th May: Cake Mania 2 - (PC)
29th May: Damnation - (PC, PS3, 360)
29th May: Fuel - (PC, PS3, 360)
29th May: Mary Kings Riding School 2 - (Wii)
29th May: PDC World Championship Darts 2009 - (DS, Wii)
29th May: Terminator Salvation - (PC, PS3, 360)

Terminator Salvation

30th May: Gran Turismo 4 - (PSP)
31st May: Dead Mountaineers Hotel - (PC)
31st May: Peppa Pig The Game - (Wii)
TBA May: Call Of Juarez: Bound In Blood - (PC, PS3, 360)
TBA May: Drama Queens - (DS)
TBA May: Dungeon Hero - (PC, 360)
TBA May: Guitar Hero Metallica - (PS3, 360, Wii)
TBA May: Luna Online - (PC)
TBA May: Monster Hunter: Freedom Unite - (PSP)
TBA May: Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja 4 - (PS2)
TBA May: Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising - (PC, PS3, 360)

Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising

TBA May: Puffins: Island Adventure - (DS)
TBA May: SuperCar Challenge - (PS3)
TBA May: The Conduit - (Wii)
TBA May: Time Of Shadows - (PC)

As with all release dates, these are subject to change. There may also be discrepancies of a week before/after between American and European releases and multi platform launches.

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Out With The New, In With The Old?

Naming some of the biggest games to come out of recent, and titles due in the foreseeable future, you will probably name some of the following titles; ’Gears Of War 2′, ‘The Sims 3′, ‘Street Fighter 4′, ‘Resident Evil 5′, ‘Tekken 6′, ‘Ridge Racer 7′…..’Final Fantasy 13′ and this is only a minute few games off the top of my head, you will no doubt have more. The obvious link between all the titles mentioned is of course the ever increasing number that follows. Like a faithful puppy companion, we know it’s going to follow, we’re quite used to it being there and most of us feel quite happy and content for it being there too, safe in the knowledge that the product it stands by, its master, is dependable, reliable, trustworthy and comfortable to what we want and expect in a video game. However what I want to know is; Do we want to keep on teaching this old dog new tricks? or is it about time to put this dog out of his misery and put him down for the big sleep?

  Sequels are big business in the gaming industry, they’ve been around for as long as most gamers remember, the first game sequel appearing around the early 1970’s. (It is debatable what the first true game sequel was, but arguments abound for both ‘Spacewar’ and the fantastically named ‘Hunt the Wumpus 2′, both appearing around 1972), Sequels continued to be distributed in abundance throughout the early console years, (especially the 8-bit period,) numerous platform titles would be released on a near yearly schedule and if not follow-ups from the original developers, then near perfect clones from competitors would appear to fans hungry for more of the same thing. This was and is essentially the case throughout the following console generations, with perhaps a little less obvious grand scale plagiarism and more of a sensible, ‘lets just steal the best bits of their game/our game and add a little something else’ mentality’. The games industry was constantly reinforcing the idea unto itself that this is becoming part of the accepted normality. This brings us round to a modern day situation where the sequel to our favourite successful game is not only wanted, but expected by the gaming public, a natural progression of what came before, what once was successful, will be successful again with as little work being done to the original idea as publishers can get away with. Re-iteration rather than re-design! Is this actually what we truly want in a sequel?

If you take Capcom as an example, recently they have just released two sequels to some of their biggest gaming franchises, these being Street Fighter 4 and Resident Evil 5. These two long running game series have been round for a few generations of gaming and have spawned, numerous sequels, remakes, spin-offs and have appeared on a multitude of gaming platforms. In this time, Capcom has gained a large following of hardcore gamers who will defend and purchase new titles in their favourite series’, pretty much regardless of what anybody will say about them, or without actually seeing the end quality of the game. I wonder why it is that we do this as gamers so blindly, but also ultimately wonder why we seem to be so undecided in what we want to play in a new installment.

Street Fighter 4 is a game that is hailed as a re-invention of the ‘beat em up’ genre of gaming, universally being praised for its positive new style, retooling of familiar ground to make it fresh again, solid online support and receiving scores of 94 (PS3) and 93 (xbox 360) from Metacritic. Resident Evil 5 however, scores 86 for both PS3 and Xbox360, and is often cited as being a good game but with underlying faults, playing the game alone, often being reported as being no-where as good as the co-op system newly integrated into the series for the first time. Now the scores are not that far apart in difference, but one implies a must have great game (Street Fighter 4) whilst the other implies only a good game. It may sound like I am being harsh on Resident Evil 5, however in the modern day gaming industry, the marginal difference in scores on Metacritic can heavily affect the bonuses and royalties paid out by Publishers to Developers, thus effecting the future of the franchise and ultimately leading to money being reallocated elsewhere.

The major factor that seems to contribute to both of these games successes and failures, appears to be timing and marketing. With Street Fighter 4, Capcom have convinced the gaming public and press that an 18 year old gaming formula (Street Fighter II [2], 1991), with minimal additional content or redesign to the core mechanic, is a fresh new way to enjoy the one on one beat em up fighter. With most of the exact same characters included and button configurations used, the exact same old techniques will work again (jump, sweep, throw, still being used heavily online). I’m not saying that this is not a fun game, it is, I bought it like everyone else, I just wonder where this abundance of new freshness lies within the game. With enough time passing between the game it is essentially based on, Capcom have successfully tapped into a nostalgia market and it seems like we all bought the game knowing and wanting this game to be a pretty, modern day version of Street Fighter 2, no less, little more, much to Capcoms marketing department’s delight.

Capcom seemed to have worked this exact same business strategy with Resident Evil 5, taking the core mechanics and game engine of Resident Evil 4, a game that scored 96 on Metacritic, making it one of the top rated games ever on there and then tried to craft a near identical experience. But what is it about Resident Evil 5 that causes a 10 point drop on Metacritic? Resident Evil 5, like Street Fighter 4, added a strong online element to the series which was missing from the game that it was mimicking, but this is a feature greatly accepted in both of Capcom’s newer titles. Can it be blamed on a marketing campaign that had a large blunder by convincing the world’s press that the game was ripe with racism? Arguably yes but this doesn’t largely effect the build of the game, only public perception. A difference in the storyline of this game did split the hardcore fans, but not to a degree that would cause such a massive drop in renown. Again, the factors seems to be timing and marketing. Four years have passed since the previous instalment of the resident evil series, and so it is still relevantly fresh in our gaming memories, especially with such an impact on other titles that Resident Evil 4 provided and lead to some fundamental changes to the action/shooter genre. Gears Of War managed to take core mechanics of Resident Evil 4, then expand upon these ideas to differentiate and reinvigour, so do we as gamers now expect all titles to follow suit, expanding on old ideas whilst still being familiar?

This seems to be a conflicting stance and a very difficult goal to achieve and just shows how fickle we are at not knowing what we truly want from our sequels, we want the old and the new to be the same, we strive for consistent differences!

With the modern global financial recession, it is believed that games publishers and developers will have to play it safe and not take as many risks on new IP’s, leading to a situation and time, much like the mentality previously employed by the world’s largest third party game publisher, EA. Their old business model relied heavily on the success of numerous yearly sequels to a vast number of sports titles which is a shame considering EA’s change of direction over the last year or so. Safe sequels or updates are estimated to be on the increase globally and so we will no doubt be bombarded with an abundance of games sporting ever increasing numbers over the upcoming months and into the new year. Will we as gamers take this and buy our same games again (the higher number the better), or will we decide wisely by Investigating our upcoming purchases to see if there is anything new of worth in them that we actually want to play? I guess, only time will tell.

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Nintendo DS Breakdown: February 2009

February 3rd:

My English Coach - Learn the English language in many fun ways! Educational

My World, My Way - Run your own kingdom as a bratty queen. RPG

Phineas and Ferb - An actioner starring two quirky characters. Action-Adventure

February 9th:

Moomin: The Great Autumn Party - An adventure game for younger audiences. Action-Adventure

February 10th:

Jake Power: Fire Man - Race to put out fires and save helpless citizens. Action-Adventure

Legacy of YS: Books 1 and 2 - The venerable RPG franchise hits the DS. RPG

My Do lt All - Features a journal, calendar, and minigames/activities. Educational

Retro Game Challenge - Play many challenege based games that reference NES favorites. Multi-Genre

February 16th:

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon - The epic series continues! RPG

February 17th:

Brave: Shaman’s Challenge - Solve puzzles in an adventure starring a young native American. Puzzle

Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride - Another entry into the popular RPG series. RPG

Martial Arts: Capoeira Fighters - Fight in the intenses art of capoeira. Fighting

Roogoo Attack - Defend your planet by solve mind-bending puzzles. Puzzle

February 24th:

Blue Dragon Plus - The excellent Xbox 360 RPG makes its way to handheld. RPG

C.O.R.E. - A sci-fi oriented shooter. Shooter

Imagine: Family Doctor - Take on the role o a family doctor. Simulation

Also This Month:

• Imagine: Cheerleader
• Jojo’s Fashion Show
• My Personal Diary
• Petz: Horseshoe Ranch
• Splinter Cell: Conviction

My 2 Cents (or whatever they’re worth): This month is pretty awesome for RPG lovers. A new YS, a new Blue Dragon, a new Fire Emblem, and a new Dragon Quest. All epic series, all good stuff. Also, My World, My Way looks like it could be a lot of fun. The rest of the games this month are for the most part, kids stuff.

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PSP Breakdown: February 2009

February 10th:

LocoRoco 2 - The sequel to the highly original, quirky platformer/puzzle game. Puzzle/Platformer

February 17th:

Petz: Saddle Club - Care for and race your very own horse. Simulation

Prinny: Can I Really Be The Hero? - A side-scroller with a unique art style and a quest fit for a hero. Action/RPG

My 2 Cents (or whatever they’re worth): This month is quite lackluster for the PSP. LocoRoco is an interesting game, and unlike any other on the market. It’s not for all tastes however, and should be approached with caution from any gamers looking for a straightforward game. Prinny looks like a cool game, especially since it harkens back to the side-scrolling days of gaming yore.

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Nintendo Wii Breakdown: February 2009

February 9th:

Deadly Creatures - Play as either a scorpion or tarantuala and try to survive the life of a deadly creature. Action-Adventure

Totally Spies! Totally Party - A collection of minigames inspired by board games. Party

February 10th:

House of the Dead: Overkill - A new entry in the long running light gun franchise. Blow away the undead! Shooter

NASCAR Kart Racing - Race as cartoon-like versions of your favorite Nascar drivers! Racing

Also This Week:

Onechanbara: Bikini Zombie Slayers - The Japanese franchise finaly makes its way stateside. Play as scantily clad vixens who have one goal: destroy the zombie menace! Action-Adventure

February 17th:

Brave: A Warrior’s Tale - Play as a Native American warrior who must defeat evil forces. Action-Adventure

Disney Sing It! High School Musical 3: Senior Year - Sing along to  your favorite HSM 3 tunes! Music

February 24th:

Dead Rising: Chop Til’ You Drop - A port of the popular zombie blasting shopping mall adventure. Action-Adventure

Also This Week:

Tenchu: Shadow Assassins - The team behind the original Tenchu returns with new Wii remote controls! Action-Adventure

My 2 Cents (or whatever they’re worth): This month starts off a bit slow for the Wii,  but manages to pick up towards the end. Deadly Creatures looks like an interesting concept that could make for a compelling game, but I would recommend a rental first. This month features a lot of zombie killing! House of the Dead should be a fun game to play with a buddy, but will probably have little to no actual replay value, a solid rental if anything. Onechanbara has been around in Japan for a while, and looks like great quirky fun. The last of the three zombie games is Dead Rising. If you didn’t get a chance to play it a couple years back on the 360, pick it up. It’s a great time. Plus, this version has new costumes, weapons, and features to add to the mix. The last game of any note this month would be Tenchu. The series has certainly grown stale over the years and with the ever changing industry. However, the team behind the original (and excellent) Tenchu is back, and coupled with the Wii motion controls, this could be a great romp in ninja land.

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Games That Need Re-Making: The Avengers

Captain America and the Avengers was originally a coin-op arcade game featuring a squad of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Players could choose from four Avengers mainstays: Iron Man, The Vision, Hawkeye, and the Captain himself. The game played a lot like the Ninja Turtles arcade games of the time, with wave after wave of enemies to defeat along a simple side scrolling path. Other Avengers such as Wonder Man and and Quicksilver would occasionally pop up to lend some assistance similar to X-Men on the Sega Genesis.

With Marvel Ultimate Alliance and the X-Men Legends series proving how well the Marvel universe can translate into fun, challenging games, it’s time for Marvel’s greatest to step up and take their piece of the pie. There are many diverse characters in the Avengers ever changing roster, and fan favorites such as Thor and The Hulk could fight alongside lesser known characters like Scarlet Witch and Black Knight. This would make things easy for both long time Avengers fans and newcomers alike.

A similar set up as Marvel Ultimate Alliance would be excellent, but possibly with an emphasis on following the Avengers on their most memorable adventures such as the creation of Ultron and the Kree-Skrull War. All in all, a new Avengers game never had a better chance for success than now, with multiple characters appearing in their own movies, all eventually leading up o an Avengers film.

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The Exclusive GTA IV PS3

GTA IV is one of the biggest games releasing for Sony PS3 this year. Metal Gear 4 is another one of them. Even though GTA IV isn’t exclusive to the PS3, Sony isn’t going to stop itself from treating GTA IV as “exclusive”. Thus Sony has launched is an official Grand Theft Auto IV bundle that will pack the game in along with the 40GB PlayStation 3 model.

Unfortunately people who were expecting to get the latest Dual Shock 3 Gamepad with the new bundle, will get the normal SIXAXIS one. This news is most disappointing for the Australian Gamers since they will have to purchase the Dual Shock 3 Gamepad for a shocking  99$AUD when it is released this week.

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2008 - The unofficial Year Of Gaming

Yes It Is! With so many good games being launched or going to be launched and nothing interesting going to happen in the field of Technology 2008 is rightfully the Year of Gaming. Some other things which may take the crown away at the end of this year are “Merger” because of Microsoft and Yahoo merger.

Here is a list of games which have been launched or going to be launched soon!

• Grand Theft Auto IV
• Ninja Gaiden 2
• Ghostbusters: The Video Game
• Devil May Cry 4
• Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
• Killzone 2
• Far Cry 2
• Rainbow Six Vegas 2
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl
• Mario Kart Wii
• Fallout 3
• Lost Odyssey
• Fable 2
• Starcraft 2
• Gran Turismo 5
• Little Big Planet
• Spore

All this and only 3 months have passed by of the year 2008. Analyst says that Video Games sales rose by 35%. Analyst says that there is more to come. As the popularity of video games continues to rise, so will the popularity of all facets of the industry. And although the gaming business has been booming for years, 2008 will surely prove to be its breakout year.

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Super Genintari 4 in 1 Console

The above picture is of Super Genintari which is the latest Mega Console mod by Richard DaLuz. The above Bronze-Acrylic case consists of Atari 2600, Nintendo Entertainment System, Genesis and Super NES. The Super Genintari connects to a TV using a single cable via a A/V cableand and is capable of running four games simultaneously and it also cooks bread with the generated heat. Richard DaLuz spend started working on this project from 2002 and finished it now in 2008!!!

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Earn Money in game, pay taxes in real life!

Here is a funny FoxTrot Cartoon strip on Money and Taxes

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iPhone - Next major Gaming Device ?

Apple recently announced the SDK for the iPhone and also demonstrated the real capabilities of the iPhone interms of 3D Graphics.

Major Gaming Companies like EA, Gameloft, SEGA have already announced plans for the iPhone.

EA has just announced its highly anticipated game “Spore” for the iPhone. Although we would not see it anytime before September, Jobs demoed it at the SDK Event.

Check out a Demo of Spore below :

The other game announced was SEGA’s Super Monkey Ball ! It will be fun to see this game make use of the iPhone accelerometer. The iPhone might just become to next handheld Wii !

Distribution of games (or apps) will be done via the AppStore which is pretty similar to current AapTapp Installer ! This will undoubtedly become one of the fastest way of selling games.

So, will iPhone be able to match upto PSP Level Graphics ? Will it succeed as a Gaming Platform ? Let’s wait and watch……

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Is this the Future of Gaming ?

I’m sure all of you have seen Jonney Quest or atleast The Matrix. Well what we’re talking about here is the Future of Gaming. Sure 20 years from now, we’ll still have Dedicated Gaming Consoles, but the way we play those games is what interests most of us.

Virtual Reality is a widely discussed topic. Gaming Companies have to try and switch over to the Future. The reason for the Success of the Wii is not its Graphic abilities but the way we interact with the game, the way we actually GET INTO the game. Nintendo realized this and made big bucks and therefore the Wii is the highest sold Next-Gen Console !

Just to take us a step further into all this - theres a company known as Vuzix which creates Video Eye Wears which immerses a gamer right into the game. You can move, look around, listen, and communicate with others - almost like being in the ‘real’ world. The Integrated 3 DOF head-tracker lets users look around inside of virtual worlds as if they are actually there ! And not to mention it also has the ability to automatically switch between Stereoscopic (3D) Vision and Normal 2D vision without the need of a switch.

Needless to say, innovative things like these do not come cheap ! The VR920 add the ability to segment multi-player displays so that the person wearing the AV902-C only sees their half (2-player) or quadrant (in 4-player) of the screen presented as a 62-inch virtual display and costs about $399 !

Check out their Official Site if you wish to buy this Gaming Gear : http://www.vuzix.com/iwear/products_vr920.html

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