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March 29, 2007
GTA IV trailer thoughts
Just saw the GTA IV trailer. It looks like that RAGE engine could work out just fine for the franchise. If there was ever a design criticism about the series, it was that it was starting to look a little dated visually. Check out the cityscapes, the lighting, the company parodies (Getalife instead of MetLife) and the accent of the main character. It looks like we're returning to Liberty City (if you see the writing on the ship as well as some of the Gotham-like landmarks), and we're doing it in the shoes of an Eastern European main character.
The guy reminds me a lot of one of the villains from "Behind Enemy Lines" starring Owen Wilson. Wilson played a downed American pilot trying to escape Bosnia alive. One of his enemies was a skilled soldier who wore a sweatsuit for the whole movie, complete with the stripe down the side of his pantlegs. I'm not saying it's HIM, but I can see him as the design inspiration for the protagonist in GTA IV.
You can see the trailer here.
Posted by Redmond Carolipio at 05:21 PM | Comments (0)
Hayter to return as Snake? SNAAAAKE?!?!
Was there ever really any doubt about this? Konami announced the voice cast for the PS3 exclusive (as far as I know) "Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots." Among them is David Hayter (pictured) who's been voicing the character of Solid Snake, the series' hero. Also coming back are the folks who voiced Otacon, Raiden and Roy Campbell.
In addition to his voice stuff, Hayter's the writer who wrote the original screenplays for "X-Men" and "X2: X-Men United." Not too shabby. Here's the quote he gave for the press release:
“I couldn't be more excited about this game. What I've seen of Metal Gear Solid 4 has absolutely blown me away. To bring the focus of the story back to Solid Snake, and to work with Kris Zimmerman and many of the amazing actors that provided iconic voices for the previous games, is like coming home,” said David Hayter. “I'm so proud and grateful to have been involved with Mr. Kojima as the voice of Snake, for nearly a decade, on this legendary video game series. This game is going to plunge players into the ultimate Metal Gear experience. And personally, I can't wait to play it.”
Posted by Redmond Carolipio at 10:26 AM | Comments (0)
Nintendo signs with "E for All" Expo
IDG announced today that the Entertainment for All (E for All) gaming expo has reeled in Nintendo as one of its flagship exhibitors.
If you don't know what E for All is, it's one of several events that will be attempting to pick up the pieces left over from the death of E3, which was like the Woodstock of gaming. While the old E3 always took place in May, E for All will be taking over the L.A. Convention Center from October 18-21, right around the time people should be trying to get their Christmas shopping done. You can get filled in on what the show's about here. Essentially, this is an attempt to give gamers the "show" to call their own. Or, as the Rock would say (if he were still wrestling), it's "the people's show."
The quick move by Nintendo shouldn't really surprise anyone, given that the Wii was looked at as the most welcoming of the new systems and that the big N has always been seen as the friendly, happy game maker. I'm still not exactly sure what I would see there since October is so close to buying season, but who knows?
Posted by Redmond Carolipio at 09:45 AM | Comments (0)
March 28, 2007
Xbox 360 Elite ... or not
Well, in case you didn't know yet, Microsoft announced the impending arrival of the Xbox 360 Elite, a completely new SKU that comes with a 120-gig hard drive, HDMI port and cable and comes in black. Now it resembles my car.
If you're tempted to assault the store when the Elite drops at the end of April, be warned. Check out what Joystiq (via Wired) points out about the apparent litany of boundaries that comes with the supposed treasure trove of storage space. The big stinker is that even if you have two 20-gig hard drives, you can only put the goods from ONE of those drives onto the Elite's big-daddy drive. Boo! There's more, but just check out the link to see it all ... it'll hurt.
As for HDMI ... meh. I'm pretty happy with my premium 360 that's managed to stay relatively healthy (as I say that, I'll fire up "GRAW 2" and watch, it'll start bleeding) and never really looked at HDMI as a make-or-break feature. I'm curious to see what the launch system owners are thinking ... probably nothing I can print. If you're in the camp that couldn't care less about HDMI, then paying $180 for more space probably isn't appealing to you -- not to mention the underlying feeling that you're being told your system is inferior. At least that's the message I get. And I don't think I'm alone.
Posted by Redmond Carolipio at 02:15 PM | Comments (0)
March 26, 2007
The stupid power of "Earth Defense Force 2017"
After about 20 minutes, it would be easy to point at "Earth Defense Force 2017" and laugh. You could poke fun at the voice acting, which conjures up memories of those Japanese monster movies, where all we would need is someone pointing and screaming. You can poke fun at the ridiculously simple-sounding plot, where aliens are coming down to destroy us all and we have to FIGHT BACK! You can even laugh at the fact that you spend a lot of time killing giant balloonish ants that are crawling all over buildings. I was tempted to (and did) a lot of those things.
What I can't say however, is that I wasn't having a ball doing it.
The folks at D3 publishing have captured lightning in a bottle. As ludricrous as all of the other aforementioned elements in this game are, you can't pull yourself away from it. Picture a parody of "Lost Planet," without the snow, and EDF is what you're left with. There's a certain campy satisfaction to blowing away ants that shoot TANG-colored acid at you while you hear comrades yell and scream over the radio, "MY GOD! THIS IS ACID! AAAAAH!" It never gets old.
It also helps that you can annihilate any building or structure you lay your eyes on. This is what would have made "Crackdown" an epic title -- a fully destructable city. WIth enough rockets, you could literally turn a good part of a metropolis into a parking lot. In fact, I spent a lot of my time playing the game doing just that. The pieces fell in strange ways sometimes (not to mention it does the classic "see the pieces disappear" thing) but I actually didn't mind. I guess that's the definition of mindless fun -- you don't mind what's wrong with it.
However, what's stopping me from giving a wholehearted recommendation of this game is that fact that you CAN'T PLAY CO-OP ONLINE. Boo! This is exactly the kind of game that Live was almost made for! Sure, you can play two players and do splitscreen co-op, but that's not the same thrill as raising anti-alien hell with someone across the country.
Visually, I'd say the game is average. The giant ants look rubbery and bouncy, and I had a hard time getting over how dorky the Earth Defense Force troopers looked. Some of the bigger skyscrapers looked decent, but when the fluffy ants started crawling all over them, the building almost looked like props. The same goes for some of the not-so-good-looking background items, like the cars. Everyone from the aliens to the humans moves a little too stiff -- it's like the entire EDF had a body cavity search right before the invasion. One good note of humor is how the game handles new weapons and power-ups -- you get to see old-school bitmap icons, jaggies and all, that read "armor" or "weapon." It's like 1985 all over again.
Gameplay was fairly simplistic, though I have no idea why the left trigger controls jumping. That just felt strange and unnatural. I was slightly irked at being able to only carry two weapons at a time, though it never really served as a problem. On "normal" mode, the game isn't that hard -- I must have wiped out about 100 or so ants before I got hit with a good shot. Then the flying machines came out, and the pace of the game changed.
I would say EDF is good weekend rental, at best, since even good mindless fun can get tedious after a while. Online co-op would have put the game almost into must-buy status. It can be that fun.
Posted by Redmond Carolipio at 04:49 PM | Comments (0)
Xbox modder gets prison time; ESA gives thanks
Here's the release from the Entertainment Sofware Association. A Xbox modder who "possessed and distributed" modded Xbox consoles with games got tagged with four months of jail, four months of house arrest and three years of supervised release.
Read on, and cue the "Hawaii Five-O" music.
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March 26, 2007 – Washington, DC – The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) today applauded the prison sentence that the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii imposed on defendant Don Perreira for his game piracy activities.
Defendant Perreira, who admitted to possessing and distributing modified Microsoft Xbox video game consoles that had been loaded with illegal copies of copyrighted video games, was sentenced by Judge Susan Oki Mollway to four months in jail and four months of home detention, followed by three years of supervised release.
Perreira, 27, of Pearl City, Hawaii, pled guilty on August 16, 2006, to two counts of criminal copyright infringement. Perreira “fronted” the modified game consoles loaded with games to his co-defendant John Oroyan, 40, of Waialua, who sold them for profit. Oroyan pleaded guilty last year to one count of copyright infringement and was sentenced on July 31, 2006, to five years of probation, three months of home detention, and 300 hours of community service.
“We commend the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Hawaii and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Cyber Crime Squad in Hawaii for bringing these defendants to justice,” said Ric Hirsch, senior vice president of Intellectual Property Enforcement at the ESA, which represents U.S. computer and video game publishers. “These sentences send a clear message to game software pirates that intellectual property theft is a serious crime and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Posted by Redmond Carolipio at 11:06 AM | Comments (0)
March 23, 2007
Mail run: 'Earth Defense Force 2017' and 'Virtua Tennis 3'
I got both of these games in the mail today, and I'm slightly afraid. While I'm pretty sure I'll find some fun out of Virtua Tennis (seeing as how I played tennis for most of my formative years), I'm a little worried about EDF. I watched one of our listeners play the demo not too long ago, and it reminded me a little too much of "Lost Planet" -- except there was no blizzard going on. There were giant mechs, little people shooting at the giant mechs, and of course, battle vehicles you can use in combat. I think I'm sick of commanding machines and launching missiles at things.
Anyway, I'm putting together the review for "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," the new release for the Xbox 360 -- not to be confused with the game that's available on XBLA (Xbox Live Arcade). That should be in the paper on Tuesday. Then, it's "Meet the Robinsons" on Thursday.
Posted by Redmond Carolipio at 02:29 PM | Comments (0)
A trip to the REAL Disneyland
As I mentioned in the last post, I spent a day in Burbank scoping out Disney Studios, joining a squadron of other gaming media types (including my pal Jessica from All Games Interactive) We were all invited there to not only tour the studios, but also check out the movie itself in digital 3D and then play the game based on the movie on several platforms (and generally mingle amongst ourselves).
This place is cool. It felt a lot like a college campus, with fluffy green patches of land surrounding a lot of the buildings and a lot of fat squirrels running around. There are some great views of green hills/mountains over the horizon, so I imagine it's to get the creative juices flowing. Sadly, I didn't get to see any actors walking around.
I'm going to sprinkle in some bad pictures as I write. I say "bad" because my only image-gathering tool is my 1.3-megapixel cell phone camera ... not to mention my photography skills are the suck.
Here goes:
Our tour guide, John, first took us to the common area, where the people who work at the studios mill around, eat and generally interact ... like I said, a lot like a college campus. This mouse shrubbery was outside the cafeteria/commisary, which would be of great importance later on. The flagpole you can barely see to the right is one of two that has the Olympic symbols engraved onto them -- Walt Disney once had a HUGE role in the Olympics, hence the special poles.
What can I say? We're at Disney Studios. Sadly, you actually can't USE these that street sign to find any destination. I wish I knew that earlier, while I was trying to find the tour group meeting spot. This is a corner near one of the old theatre buildings, which features the sets of handprints on concrete you just saw.
Away we went to the animation building, where we saw hallways decked out with concept art, cells, early drawing of characters that were tweaked and re-tweaked until the voice actors were brought on board, so they would be tweaked again. We're told that the process for making movies this way would take about 4 to 5 years. I'd have more pics for you, but a lot of what I took here was blurry and would murder your eyes.
Then, we went to the archives.
Seeing the Disney archives was one of the big highlights of the tour. We were taken to a room where we'd see a bevy of items -- books, cels, figures, you name it -- that were used or related to the Disney empire in some way. It was like a museum. Hopefully, you'll recognize the wardrobe from "The Chronicles of Narnia."
After ogling the archives, we took a step outside and saw one of the cooler pieces of architecture I've seen in a long time.
Very nice. The reason for this concept was because Walt Disney wanted to pay homage to "Snow White and The Seven Dwarves," which we're told is the film that really served as the company's financial (and inspirational) jumping off point. So, he wanted to show how the dwarves were "carrying" the company and built this in the mid-80s. This is the building where the big dogs like Robert Iger are supposed to be. I think that makes this a little creepy in a powerful, pantheon kind of way. If you were to fight Iger in a boss battle, it would have to be in this building, no? Let's move on ... to the land of props (real props, not Randy Jackson you're-my-dawg abstract props).
Any fans of "Tron" here? This is the actual sign for Flynn's arcade that they used in that movie. The prop warehouse here is loaded with an outstanding array of cool stuff. There are weapons, chairs, a scoreboard, aliens ... and a LOT of caskets. Which seemed fitting when I saw this right outside of the hand-held prop room:
I shouldn't have to say this but ... no, that guy's not real. That does it for my shots.
After our tour, we ended up going back to the commissary, which was good because I was ready to start chomping on some grass to avoid the hunger headache. Then came a trek to the screening theater for the viewing of "Meet the Robinsons." I saw movie critic Leonard Maltin hanging out there (didn't say hi or give him a pound, though) and in we went, stopping by to scoop up some popcorn on the way.
I won't review the movie here -- we already have people for that -- but I really enjoyed it. It's a nice take on the concept of adoption, though I thought it started out a little slow at the beginning in terms of setting everything up. Then again, maybe those are my impatient gamer instincts, I don't know -- hell, the last movie I saw before this was "300."
One of my favorite scenes involved the Robinson family dinner/food fight, which ends up playing out like a badly dubbed kung-fu movie confrontation, right down to the dialogue and slightly aged, almost grainy film look. I thought it was genius.
Then came time for the game, which at first glance, looks like a pretty solid mission-based platformer. I'll have more later after I play with it more today. If you made it this far, thanks for the time. Until then.
Posted by Redmond Carolipio at 10:09 AM | Comments (0)
March 22, 2007
Going to the dance
Today I got the chance to check out Disney Studios in Burbank, yet another one of those things I didn't think I was going to do in my lifetime. I was there for an event showcasing "Meet the Robinsons", both the movie and the game. I'll get to that tomorrow ... I have pics to upload and more information to share, and I just don't have the juice to do it right now.
What I am going to muse about is the discussion I had with a few fellow game-writing folks at the event ... the invites to the scaled-down, exclusive event that is now E3. I ended up getting a message in my swamped e-mail inbox yesterday, telling me that I had to confirm my info at the end of the week to get invited. After I did that, I was assured I'd get my invitation and other goodies in the mail.
The e-mails were strange ... almost cryptic. The sender didn't read "ESA" or something easily recognized, but rather an address that wasn't monitored by human beings. It was one of those unread e-mails that could have easily been filtered into the spam or junk folder if you weren't looking for it.
I thought two things: 1) Wow ... they must REALLY not want the "wrong people" at this; 2) Why the hell did I get picked?
Don't get me wrong ... I think it's very cool I'm able to go, but I find it a little creepy to know that I'm on some sort of master list of names, like the people in "Heroes." Who gets picked? Who decides? And perhaps most of all, who's getting snubbed? It's almost seems like a double-edged sword to getting selected to attend what is supposed to be a landmark event in the industry -- it doesn't feel quite like a blessing. It's like I was picked to be part of an experimental genome program. Just weird.
I guess I'm also anxious because I have no idea what this is going to be like. Since I've been at LANG (that's Los Angeles Newspaper Group), I've been weaned on show floors, giant booths with babes, loud noise and having to fight with eight guys from Best Buy for time on a game. Now I hear it's going to be tons of keynote speeches and press conferences, and then closed-door, one-on-one meetings. As was discussed at the Disney event, we're going from about 65,000 - 70,000 people to maybe less than 5,000. That's a lot of people who aren't going to be seeing this stuff, and one can only wonder what the result could be. We'll find out in less than four months.
Posted by Redmond Carolipio at 09:29 PM | Comments (0)
March 13, 2007
Spartan week
I saw "300" over the weekend ... and I just got "God of War II" in the mail this morning. If I were to experience both in the same day, I'm pretty sure I would try to rally everybody in the movie theater and lay siege to the Italian restaurant nearby. That's what material like this does to people.
I think part of the reason so many people fell in love with the first "God of War" and are gushing about "300" is the same reason people liked the wrestler Goldberg in his prime, or "Gladiator" when it was released in theaters: People just like things that live up to their ideal of the inner badass.
This isn't to be confused with the inner "thug" -- the thug usually preys on the defenseless or helpless. Lots of times, you don't even see the thug coming. With the vintage badass, there's no fear of the numbers or how "good" an adversary is. The badass doesn't care if you see him coming, because in the end, there's nothing you can do about it anyway.
And in an entertainment sense, that's empowering. It's a different kind of satisfaction ... you foil a missle plot with Sam Fisher and you can feel proud of your skill and patience. With Kratos, the satisfaction comes with administering merciless, what's-my-name beatings to hordes of creatures or putting an angry giant on the ground with extreme, bloody prejudice. Kratos allows the player to feel invincible and nasty, appealing to the snarling dog that I think is in everybody to some degree.
That doesn't mean I'm going to be an apologist for the game's flaws -- the combos are a little too easy to do, and I still thought the game was dangerously close to being considered short. I just didn't really notice it -- I was too busy being The Man.
Well, I'm off to be semi-godlike. Blades up.
Posted by Redmond Carolipio at 11:05 AM | Comments (0)
March 12, 2007
From 'GRAW 2' to 'Def Jam: Icon' ... ugh
I filed the review for 'GRAW 2' earlier today, so it should be up and running by the end of the week. Focused a little bit on the social aspect of the game, since it arrives at a time when stuff like the Minutemen, border tensions, and immigration issues are still regulars on the mainstream media. Hell, the game even ticked off the mayor of Juarez, the Mexican border city (and the main battlefield of GRAW 2).
I won't rehash the review here ... I liked the storytelling and the pace of the action more in this game than the last one, and I had a blast playing multiplayer, despite some lag issues and the lack of a bonafide cover system that was available in single player.
What I will expound on a little is the whole Tom Clancy-vs.-brown people trend that we mentioned on Friday's All Games Interactive. Essentially, aside from Splinter Cell, you're asked to shoot a lot of Mexicans in GRAW, Rainbow Six: Vegas, and now GRAW 2. I'm not saying this is a problem -- just something I noticed.
What intrigues me about some of the complaining concerning the Clancy games is that it centers around image. Rainbow Six got slammed because there was fear the game projected a negative image of the city. Same with the Mayor of Juarez.
Let's start with Vegas. It's fine with being called Sin City, it has legalized prostitution, and an ad campaign that actually pokes fun at its own reputation for debauchery. There are TV shows dedicated to the shenanigans that happens in the casinos and some of its crime -- and did I mention the legalized prostitution?
But once a scenario gets cooked up when terrorists use the city as a staging ground for its operations, then there's a problem? Everything I just mentioned was true -- yet there's an uproar about a piece of fiction that focuses on fighting terrorism.
Now comes Juarez, which has been known as a haven for violent drug cartels for years. I happen to work with one of the better immigration reporters around (if you're interested, she's Sara A. Carter) and I've heard stuff about her trips to border towns that are bone-chilling. She went to Nuevo Laredo, which isn't exactly known for being a picnic area, either. You hear stories of gunfights and people being killed, then chopped into pieces and buried in the backyard, That's the word I hear on Juarez ... and this was long before some game came along and used it as a backdrop.
Unfortunately, I think this is going to start (or increase) a trend of nations getting ticked at game developers for having the gall to use their soil in a body of fiction. China might get angry that Sam Fisher was in Hong Kong for a mission. Russian legislators could get angry because some fictional tanks got blown up near Moscow. I'm not saying it's GOING to happen ... but I wouldn't be surprised.
Moving on to a much lighter subject, I played some of 'Def Jam Icon' over the weekend. I'd heard the reviews weren't stellar, but I also remember a discussion about the demo that centered around one's like/dislike for hip-hop, and how it could determine whether someone "gets" the game.
And after about an hour with "Icon," I can say this: I "get" this game. I'm just not sure I like it.
The previous two "Def Jam" games were an interesting study in styles. The first one, "Vendetta," was a classic wrestling game, which felt a lot like the N64 games. You punched, then grappled, and then whipped out an array of bonebreaking, physically impossible moves. The second one, "Fight for New York," took more of an MMA approach, introducing styles like kung-fu and kickboxing -- even your created fighter could "blend" some style together to be a more effective fighter.
"Icon" feels sluggish and slow. It almost feels as if the game is simply happy to have realistic-looking rappers that are bogged down with random animations than actually feeling like an organic, fluid fighting experience. I feel like I'm "steering" the fighters rather than controlling them, and I've already been in a couple of fights that feel like schoolyard brawls where two people just wail on each other until one falls.
Then there's the whole "music as your weapon" gimmick, which is really starting to annoy me. The backgrounds react the music and almost seem to have a soul of their own. Conceptually, I think that's cool -- but it doesn't exactly make for the best fighting experience. I'm forced to concentrate on the song as well as my opponent, otherwise some door will open or some speakers will "pop" with the beat and send me flying across the screen. I'll give it this -- it's a new way of thinking for a fighting game, but I'm still trying to determine if it's worth it.
Tomorrow, I'll have more for you. I should also remind myself that "God of War 2" comes out this week -- and I don;t think it's a secret that I'm really looking forward to it, button-mashiness and all. Til then.
Posted by Redmond Carolipio at 02:33 PM | Comments (1)
March 06, 2007
Hooray sports! Boo, Bullet Witch.
OK, perhaps I don't stink at baseball as much as I thought.
Like practically a third of my Live friends list, I've been spending a lot of time playing MLB 2k7, the new baseball game from 2K Sports. I got that and MLB '07: The Show in the mail at roughly the same time, but you're not going to see anything in LANG print until opening day. So I've got some time. I've also been wading through a lot of NBA Street Homecourt for my post All-Star hoops fix. Then came Bullet Witch -- I'll get to that later.
For the sake of clarity, I'm breaking down my early thoughts on the games in digestible chunks (except MLB 07, which I haven't played yet, and probably won't, since GRAW 2 and Def Jam Icon are out this week).
MLB 2K7: Light years ahead of last year's game in the looks department. I had some catching up to do with the control scheme, which is more of the same. Pitching is a LOT easier to pick up than hitting, as I managed to rack up a few K's against online opponents. Like real baseball, you can either listen and follow where your catcher sets up, or you can shake him off and pitch anywhere you want. It takes a little getting used to hearing Jon Miller (play-by-play) announce to the world (and your online opponent) where your catcher is setting up, but there are definitely ways around that. In terms of hitting, to steal an AGI joke -- hitting is hard. At least at first. You have to pull back and release/push the swing stick as if you were really up at the plate, so you have to master all the keen nuances of a pitcher's release point and pitch velocity before you can start thinking about hitting the ball with some regularity. You almost have no choice but to suppress that gamer urge to swing away and actually TAKE some pitches. Otherwise, it's K's all day. I'm not even a baseball fan, but this could quickly become a bonafide leisure-time favorite long after I'm done reviewing it.
NBA Street Homecourt: After the debacle that was NBA Live '07, I think it's safe to say this is EA's best hoops game. Even through all the crazy dunks, moves and cinematic effects with the gamebreakers, this brand of hoops felt more organic than any other hoops game I've played since NBA Street Vol. 2 for the PS2. It's just a group of ballers playing at the park. The sound quality is outstanding ... close your eyes and listen to the game, and it's almost like you were right there, waiting for your chance to get on the court. Great stuff ... it'll make you think of summertime runs. The courts look pretty outstanding as well -- Rupert Bell Rec Center, Cloverdale, the Brand Jordan Gym (my favorite). I would have liked more unlockable content aside from shoes and outfits, and I also would have liked the ability to build my own hometown court, as opposed to just "getting" a nondescript court that I'm supposed to call my own. As I'll say in the print review, it's the most fun I've had playing fake hoops in a long, long, time.
Bullet Witch: At the start of last week, I was thinking about how I haven't played a truly bad game in a while. I was on a happy streak with Crackdown, NBA Street Homecourt ... I even found stuff to like in Ghost Rider. Then along came Bullet Witch, another title that I thought may have been misunderstood by other people who panned it. It's a hot chick carrying a big gun and using spells, I thought. How bad could it be? As it turns out, pretty damn bad. To wax poetic about how miserable a time I had playing this would be a waste of your time and mine, so I can link you to my print review when it comes out. All I want to say is ... I thought we'd be past this kind of gamemaking by now, at this stage of the game.
That's all I've got for now. When you hear from me again, hopefully it'll be about GRAW and Def Jam Icon.
Posted by Redmond Carolipio at 12:46 PM | Comments (0)