Archive for August, 2009

Uncharted 2 Cinema Mode

According to a video done by Inside Gaming, Uncharted 2 will feature a Cinema mode for the online multiplayer. Some may ask, what is this feature? Well, this is the new way that you and your friends will be trash talking each other in the future. In essence, you can record online gameplay, upload it to Naughty Dog’s servers, and send it to your buddies. This will be a great way to taunt your buddies or to just show off. This mode will feature an orbital camera and a free camera. In play back, there will be a Handy Cam feature as well. There is angle-tweaking, slow motion, blur settings, as well as lighting and color tweaking.

Also, there will be a Machinima mode, which will allow you to make your own user-generated movie. The movie making mode looks extremely in depth and intuitive. There will be an ability to add voice to the videos as well, and the mouth of the character will sync up with what you are actually saying.

This mode shows that Naughty Dog is truly interested in their community, and they are very excited to see what kind of content will be generated. Who knows, maybe the Dualshockers team will start hosting meetings in Uncharted 2.

Firmware 3.00 Live

As many of you remember, Sony announced a new firmaware at GamesCom that would introduce a plethora of new features. The firmware was set for a September 1, 2009, but it looks like the good folks at Sony have made it go live a day early. Hopefully we will be able to see the first batch of animated themes this Thursday with the PlayStation Store update.

[update]

It seems that the opening screen and music has changed, and Sony is going with the new PS3 logo. The layout of everything is very sharp and beautiful. I am impressed by the new look and feel of the xmb.

FFXIII DLC Won’t Expand the Story

According to Videogaming 24/7 any possible DLC for Final Fantasy XIII won’t expand the story.  Instead, Producer Yoshinori Kitase has pointed out that they would like to add “new areas, items or enemies”. However, these would not include more story – according to him, the entire story will be on the disc(s).

I had long wondered how Square-Enix would handle DLC for a standard entry in their star franchise. FFXIII will be the first in the esteemed numbered line to be released during the “DLC generation”, so it is interesting to find out what they have in mind. I can see extra tough optional bosses added as DLC, as well as perhaps new armor, weapons or other collectibles to discover. Perhaps side quests…assuming they don’t consider those part of the story.

Whatever the case may be, it will be interesting to see what Square-Enix will do to treat their customers in the form of DLC in the months after FFXIII is released, which will likely come early next year for those of us in North America.

High Hopes for The Beatles: Rock Band

It’s no secret really that the economy is doing its dirty work on the gaming industry, despite some reports early on that it was “recession proof”.  Some companies, like Viacom, are betting big on certain big titles this holiday season.  Viacom is the parent company of MTV, who, along with the developer Harmonix, are responsible for the Rock Band franchise.  High hopes are riding on how well their upcoming title, The Beatles: Rock Band, sells going into the fall season.

Viacom is shelling out a lot of cash for royalties – an estimated $40 million or more if the game sells as expected – to those who own the rights to the music in their new game.  That’s a lot of faith on a franchise that isn’t very old, especially in this economic climate.

The LA Times has a quote from Martin Bandier, the Chairman of Sony/ATV Music Publishing, in which he points out this startling fact: “The royalty rates on this are not even comparable to anything that has been done before.” A lot of work has been put into getting this entire collection of music into a Rock Band title, which was a joint venture between Sony and the Michael Jackson estate, the owners of most of The Beatles song catalog.

I’m a big fan of Rock Band, if not of The Beatles’ music. However, I can’t say I’m that interested in The Beatles: Rock Band. I suppose I’m the perfect example of what Viacom doesn’t want to see – someone who really doesn’t want more peripherals and music that can’t be ported to other franchise games, not to mention having a lot of other games this fall to play through. However, I do hope the game sells well, because the franchise overall has been great in the past, and I hope for its continued success.  In the process, perhaps it will lift the industry as a whole above the recession and put it solidly back on its feet.

Develop an Xbox 360 Game, Win $50,000

Every gamer at some point has wanted to design their own game, right?  I know I have.  I’ve dreamed of being the next Hironobu Sakaguchi or Peter Molyneux.  If you’ve ever had that same dream, perhaps this is your chance.  On Major Nelson’s blog, he pointed out that there’s a special contest going on right now in which you can create your own Xbox 360 game.  This event is sponsored by Doritos and Microsoft and will give you a chance to show what you’ve got when it comes to game development.

For starters, all you have to do is head on over here, sign up and pitch your idea (both in video format and in text).  If they like it, you may end up with a cool $50,000 in cash and be able to help develop your game.  Sounds like a plan to me.  What do you have to lose?

Game Sequels – How Far Apart?

Going into the fall gaming season we have new titles flying at us left and right, half of which are sequels or off-shoots of already established franchises – Guitar Hero 5, Modern Warfare 2, Halo 3 ODST, Forza 3, Uncharted 2. Sometimes sequels come at us with blazing speed, sometimes it takes years for us to even hear about their development and perhaps years after that before we see them on store shelves. Is there such a thing as releasing a sequel too quickly? Conversely, how long would you wait for a sequel to one of you favorite franchises?

There was a lot of controversy a few months back when Valve announced the development of Left 4 Dead 2, when the first game had been out for just over six months. The nerd rage was strong with this one, you might say. Fanboys screamed that Valve had promised them DLC for the first game and, before they got much, the second game was announced. Still, L4D2 will not see a retail release until November, which puts it in our hands almost exactly a year after L4D. I don’t know about young’ins these days, but back in my day I loved getting a new Final Fantasy every year. The seventh through tenth installments in the Final Fantasy franchise were released once each year for four years (1997-2000). Sure, they didn’t come out exactly a year to the day as the previous one, but they hit once per calendar year for four years in a row. It boggles my mind how people can complain about a sequel to a game they adore a year after the first one released.

On the other end of the spectrum, you have a developer like Blizzard. When Blizzard does something, they do it right, which I admire them for (especially having played World of Warcraft for over four years). Unfortunately, that is a double-edged sword – it can be both a blessing and a curse. The good news is that, even though it is taking them darn near 10 years to release sequels to the Diablo and Starcraft franchises, the games are almost guaranteed to be top-notch and full of awesomeness. In addition, with the proliferation of downloadable content in this day and age, the new games, when they do arrive, could possibly last even longer, assuming Blizzard does some future-proofing. The bad news is that, well, it takes them 10 years to release a sequel. (For the sake of being thorough: Starcraft was first released in 1998 and Diablo II was first released in 2000 – so, it’ll be ~12 years between Starcraft games and ~10 years between Diablo games.)

Note that Valve isn’t a stranger to long development times, either. Their Half-Life franchise saw six years between its first and second installment, and additional time between HL2 and the various episodes that followed. Other developers who used to kick sequels out fairly quickly are taking more and more time in development these days. One of the major factors in this, most likely, is that as games and the systems we play them on get more and more advanced, development time and cost skyrockets, thus almost ensuring longer and longer time between sequels.

All that aside, I have to mention Activision, their Guitar Hero franchise and all its spawn. To be honest, this is what put the idea for this editorial in my head. There’s what, at least eight Guitar Hero games or off-shoots, across all major platforms, coming out in 2009? GH5, GH: Van Halen, GH: Metallica, GH: Smash Hits, GH on Tour: Modern Hits, Band Hero, DJ Hero…and this isn’t even mentioning the mobile phone and arcade versions of the franchise. Far be in from me to begrudge Activision the millions (billions?) of dollars they rake in from this franchise by having all these titles available throughout the year, but isn’t it a bit much? I’ve never purchased a single GH game (although I’m considering purchasing GH5 and Band Hero…haven’t made up my mind yet), but I feel like I’d get burned out. Hell, the only reason I’m considering a GH purchase is because Rock Band feels “old” to me now. Imagine how I’d feel after several possible GH purchases in a year.

So, how soon is too soon for a sequel? I really can’t answer that for anyone but myself. What I do know is, as long as there is money to be made, as long as people keep lapping up every morsel of a franchise the game publishers throw at them, there will be games to play in that franchise. From a personal perspective, there are a lot of games that get sequels which, in my mind, don’t deserve them. On the other hand, there are many games which I feel deserve sequels and don’t get them because they aren’t “mainstream” or get lost in the tide of high-profile, in-your-face titles every holiday season. I’d venture to say the general consensus might be that once a year is a good time for sequels, assuming developers and publishers feel the need – but the abundance of DLC for most titles these days might stretch that out a bit. Although, I would certainly think 12 years is a bit too long, eh, Blizzard?

In my ideal world of gaming, there would be two or three years between sequels, and other new IPs filling the gaps. I realize new IPs aren’t always the greatest, but if developers and publishers would really focus on those as much as they focus on sequels to their heavy-sellers, we’d have the best of both worlds and probably wouldn’t notice the passage of time between our favorite titles. I’m interested in what others have to say about this subject, so I’ll ask the question again and direct it at the readers – how long between sequels, in your opinion?

RBN – Cetan Clawson – White Heat Video Preview

A lot of people love Rock Band, Rock Band 2, etc. but many are perhaps even more anxious with the ability to make their own songs and get them into these games. People have not exactly been sure of what to expect from the upcoming Rock Band Network, but when I see things like this video it just makes me smile. This video shows the power of user created music and where it can take this genre. The guitar riffs from this young “prodigy” along with the drums look insane and flow seamlessly with the music. As I watch this video I tip my hat to these guys, just hope that I can rock it on “Medium”, damn carpal tunnel.

We’ll cut to the chase. Here’s our first video preview of “White Heat” by Cetan Clawson and the Soul Side.

We’ve made no secrets about how excited we are to work with Cetan Clawson. The 21-year-old electric blues prodigy has the talent to follow in the foosteps of Stevie Ray Vaughan, and a style reminiscent of the great Jimi Hendrix.

At 2 minutes, 13 seconds, “White Heat” is exactly that: a fireball of fast, frenetic, and incredibly challenging guitar work that doesn’t take a break for two seconds. This isn’t just random fretwork, though… every single note contributes to the amazing groove of the song. The bass and drum parts are no slouches, either! We’re certain you’ll want to pick up “White Heat” as soon as the Rock Band Network store launches.

[Via Rock gamer Studios]

God of War Hits PS3 This Holiday With Trophies

With the announcement of God of War III for the PS3, and the eye-fucking visuals that were shown during E3 this year, fans of the franchise cried out for a re-release of the god-killing Spartan, Kratos, to spawn his previous endeavors onto Sony’s next-gen platform (especially since the newer PS3 sku’s don’t support backwards compatibility).  Well, ladies and gentlemen, Sony has heard your cries and will be fulfilling your yelps of anguish as the third and final chapter of the God of War series slowly approaches to deliver the prequels in Blu-ray form this Christmas in the God of War Collection. The best part of the whole thing?  The series have been totally remastered.  Get a chubby yet?

Disney Buys Marvel for $4 Billion

What do you get when you combine Spider-Man and Mickey Mouse?  I’ll tell you what you get, you get Mickey Mouse getting his ass thrown around and slammed into fire hydrants because mice in New York City is a very big no-no; and putting a four-foot tall mouse next to Spider-Man will only mean one thing – pure ownage for the talking rodent.  But that kind of stuff won’t happen.  Especially since Mickey and his group of happy friends will be signing the checks that Spidey and his Marvel crew will be using to dry-clean their spandex outfits.  All your favorite superheroes from the Marvel universe will now be in the hands of he Walt Disney Company as the world renown, and largest, entertainment and media conglomerate acquired Marvel Entertainment for a whopping $4 billion.

Need For Speed: Shift TV Spot

Need for Speed used to be one of my favorite racing titles, especially right after the first Fast and the Furious movie dropped. The games allowed you to customize/tune your whip, drift around race tracks and drag race in the streets, but it seemed to get a bit repetitive after a few iterations after the first Underground. Shift which is the newest title in the series looks to make things fresh again. Check out this TV spot, which shows real in game footage of a race from the cockpit of one fast car and you can really get a sense of the speed in the game. I like the cut scenes that show the inner workings of the driver as well, reminds me of some john Woo films. I wonder if in career mode your driver himself can take damage as well as your car, now that would be an interesting feature. The view form the cockpit looks amazing and is probably one of my favorite and most most challenging ways to play any racing video game, will you be riding in the cockpit or the third-person?

Halo 3: ODST Red vs. Blue

Red vs. Blue has been bringing us Halo inspired video funnies for quite some time now and with the eminent launch of Halo 3: ODST it was only a matter of time to expect them to take on this task. They present the newest episode entitled “Guys like us”, the crew is happy to hear of a new Halo expansion, which should give them a great chance of getting wins, since everyone will be learning the game and they are just marines. They guys role the footage of the new ODST game and quickly realize that this is no cake walk.

My two favorite lines of the video are “What’s a marine?” and “Scrimmages sound delicious”, classic my friends. I look forward to seeing more of these videos in the series to follow as soon as ODST is officially launched. They do have a very valid point though, ODST will put everyone back on a semi-even playing field until people memorize maps, spawns, weapon spawns and exploits. The first few weeks should be the most fun for any gamer interested in throwing their hat in the ring.

DC Universe Green Latern Screenshots

2010 is quicky approaching and with it comes one of the most ambitious games on the horizon. That game, is PS3 (console) exclusive DC Universe online. As more time passes more information continues to trickle out including some kick ass screenshots. This time around we’re treated to some pics of what Green Lantern will look like in the game. Now out of all the DC characters, I myself was never into Lantern but he has a rabid fan following. I dunno is it just me or does he look like Captain Planet wearing green tights, a mask, and a sour apple ring pop? Either way, check out the screenshots below!