Saturday, August 21, 2004
Link it up, Chris, I'm about to
First things first, http://www.g-pinions.com is now active. It just forwards here for now, but it's looking like we'll finally have the new site up in the quasi-near future as well. So, if anyone is actually "telling their friends" about this site, or linking to it or anything, please use that URL from now on - it's where the new site will be located. Yay!
As far as gaming business, I don't have much of substance to say today, as I've been out of town. I will, however, provide you with a bevy of pertinent links for some of the games coming out mostly in the next couple of months.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas trailer - This was released while I was gone, so maybe this is old news to everyone by now. It's nothing special, but it does give you some idea of the vibe of the game. I do like the plane flyby shot a lot since it really shows off the improved draw distance. The countryside portions of the game are looking great too, and with the suggestion that they play similarly to Smuggler's Run, it seems there are more reasons than ever for me to be looking forward to the game.
Apparent new Halo 2 info - This is supposedly from a beta build of the game, and while it could quite easily be a crock of covenant horseshit, I buy it. Everything said sounds perfectly believable, and if I was going to make up info on a game, it would be a hell of a lot more interesting ("...one of the new vehicles, a manatee!"). So, I'll go along with it for now; the only part that he'd better damn be telling the truth about is 4-player multiplayer Live play. Meaning, four people playing on the same screen, playing online. The implications and possibilities that go along with that are mind-alteringly cool, and would drastically further the online medium of gameplay. We could use a standard like that.
PoP3D - A couple of sexy 3D screenshots for those Quicktime-enabled folk. Just click and drag once they load. I still have my doubts about the game, but that doesn't mean I'm not excited to play it, or view it's gorgeousness.
What the fuck is a Geist? - This odd, much-hyped Gamecube project isn't really looking any better the more I see it, just weirder. The idea of being able to jump between possessed objects within a level is certainly cool (from a rat to a guard to a keyboard, etc.), but it just doesn't look very well-implemented so far. Maybe first-person isn't the best way to go about it, but I can't think of a better way. I hope it comes together in the end, especially since Nintendo could REALLY use an exclusive FPS, but as of right now I don't see it happening.
Goldeneye: Rogue Agent of Feces? - I certainly don't have a problem with the Goldeneye name being used to sell a game, as long as it's attached to a quality product. I was pleased to see that they had focused on AI over graphics for the E3 build, even if it didn't look great as a result. The problem is, it still isn't looking great, and it's release date isn't that far away anymore. I don't mean sheer graphics necessarily either - a lot of the character animations, and even your character's basic movement, seems kind of rigid and wonky. I mean, I can't imagine they'd screw something like that up with 150 people on the team, but I've seen bigger slip-ups. They also have their fare share of hollywood talent and industry veterans working on the game, but most of their contributions seem geared towards the look of the game rather than the feel. The reason Need For Speed Underground felt so fast is because of the sense of speed imbued by the work of an Oscar-nominated visual effects team, so I suggest EA use their talent wisely.
As far as gaming business, I don't have much of substance to say today, as I've been out of town. I will, however, provide you with a bevy of pertinent links for some of the games coming out mostly in the next couple of months.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas trailer - This was released while I was gone, so maybe this is old news to everyone by now. It's nothing special, but it does give you some idea of the vibe of the game. I do like the plane flyby shot a lot since it really shows off the improved draw distance. The countryside portions of the game are looking great too, and with the suggestion that they play similarly to Smuggler's Run, it seems there are more reasons than ever for me to be looking forward to the game.
Apparent new Halo 2 info - This is supposedly from a beta build of the game, and while it could quite easily be a crock of covenant horseshit, I buy it. Everything said sounds perfectly believable, and if I was going to make up info on a game, it would be a hell of a lot more interesting ("...one of the new vehicles, a manatee!"). So, I'll go along with it for now; the only part that he'd better damn be telling the truth about is 4-player multiplayer Live play. Meaning, four people playing on the same screen, playing online. The implications and possibilities that go along with that are mind-alteringly cool, and would drastically further the online medium of gameplay. We could use a standard like that.
PoP3D - A couple of sexy 3D screenshots for those Quicktime-enabled folk. Just click and drag once they load. I still have my doubts about the game, but that doesn't mean I'm not excited to play it, or view it's gorgeousness.
What the fuck is a Geist? - This odd, much-hyped Gamecube project isn't really looking any better the more I see it, just weirder. The idea of being able to jump between possessed objects within a level is certainly cool (from a rat to a guard to a keyboard, etc.), but it just doesn't look very well-implemented so far. Maybe first-person isn't the best way to go about it, but I can't think of a better way. I hope it comes together in the end, especially since Nintendo could REALLY use an exclusive FPS, but as of right now I don't see it happening.
Goldeneye: Rogue Agent of Feces? - I certainly don't have a problem with the Goldeneye name being used to sell a game, as long as it's attached to a quality product. I was pleased to see that they had focused on AI over graphics for the E3 build, even if it didn't look great as a result. The problem is, it still isn't looking great, and it's release date isn't that far away anymore. I don't mean sheer graphics necessarily either - a lot of the character animations, and even your character's basic movement, seems kind of rigid and wonky. I mean, I can't imagine they'd screw something like that up with 150 people on the team, but I've seen bigger slip-ups. They also have their fare share of hollywood talent and industry veterans working on the game, but most of their contributions seem geared towards the look of the game rather than the feel. The reason Need For Speed Underground felt so fast is because of the sense of speed imbued by the work of an Oscar-nominated visual effects team, so I suggest EA use their talent wisely.
// posted by Nick @ 12:29 PM 
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