Friday, September 22, 2006

G-Pinions: Gaming Radio - Season 2, Episode 3

No wiley breach of land can stop these G-Pioneers from bringing you talk of games from betwixt the coasts (and this week the dual-screen-festooned shores of Nippon). It's been a few weeks, but Tom and I (Greg couldn't make this one, but he wants everyone to know that he's sick of sandbox games and loves Okami) are more than ready to tell you our thoughts on what we've been playing since the last show, the Tokyo Game Show thus far, next weeks X06 event, and dozens of tangents you couldn't possibly have been expecting. And please excuse my quiet voice and computer hum, Skype is a harsh mistress.

Click me click me click me in your room.

LwT: Lego, Sony and idle NDS chatter

It has been so long since I have touched my NDS. There was a time when I would not leave my house without it. Heck, I wouldn't even leave the room without it. What if I broke my legs? What would I do for entertainment? It seemed like I was getting some fantastic new game every week. I would jump from Kirby to Advance Wars to Mario Kart in the blink of an eye. And when I ran out of new releases, I would import titles. Band Brothers is still the best multiplayer rhythm game I have ever played, and that includes the time I played bass with Pearl Jam. Ouendan is the perfect blend of solid gameplay and off-the-wall, Japanese quirkiness.

Oh NDS! Where have you gone?

While the NDS well has been boring dry so far this year, it looks like things are going to be very good for me the rest of the year. I'm finally getting Mario Basketball next week, and Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2 a few days after that. And there's still Cooking Mama somewhere out there, with Touch Detective and Contact coming sometime in October. This is what I live for. Don't forget about Elite Beat Agents coming later in the year. Officially, it's being billed as a port of Ouendan, but with an all new story and American songs, it's a true sequel. Ouendan is one of those games that I loved but would never imagine I could get a sequel. I am so pumped I'm getting a new version so soon. The topper should be Castlevania, which has consistently been one of the best franchises since Symphony of the Night came out almost a decade ago. Since SotN came out, there have been four new titles made in that vein and they have all been amazing. To say I am excited for the fifth is quite an understatement.

As I sit here at work, trying to speed the clock up with my extraordinary cognitive abilities, I wonder how I will be able to play all these games. I used to take public transit all the time. I must have played through five or six complete games just waiting for my train to arrive. But now, living in the sprawled out suburbs, I don't have that luxury. Curse Henry Ford and his oh-so-convenient horseless carriage! How do people make time to play portable games with a fulltime job and an Okami waiting for them at home?

And then it dawned on me - it's a portable system. I can play it anywhere. Even in, say, the bathroom. But my NDS is too big to seamlessly stuff in my pockets, right? You know what that means! Field trip to Best Buy! To celebrate the coming of all these new NDS games, I am going to finally pick up a DS Lite of my very own. I have to do it. For the good of the site I must play Mario Basketball during working hours. Things just got much more interesting for me.

Before I move on to a long awaited review, I have one more bit of (possibly) negative Sony news. According to this site, and Gamespot says the same thing in one of their TGS videos, Sony is actually going to charge for game demos. It will cost $1 to try one of their games. I have no idea if this is actually true, or if it applies to every game, but it wouldn't surprise me at all. This is the type of thing a company comes up with after they spend a decade on top of the industry. This is the reason I am rooting against Sony this generation. They have gotten too big and greedy for their own good. A shot of humility will do them some good.

Do you want to hear about Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy now? I will say this - it's pretty damn fun. I played through all three episodes, as well as trying some of the bonus content, in just a few days. I loved seeing the original Star Wars acted out by mute Lego characters. Although I must admit it has been a very long time since I have seen Return of the Jedi. I actually gasped out loud when Darth Vader died protecting Luke. I had no idea he was killed! I'm about 23 years late on that one but it hurt like it was yesterday. Hope I didn't ruin the ending for anyone, but you really should know at this point.

Anyway, the game was clearly designed with co-op in mind. This is great if you have friends or a second Xbox 360 controller, but I was completely lacking in at least one of those during the past week. You travel through the game with at least one other AI controlled character at your side, but they don't actually do anything. It's really weird. They try to attack enemies, and actually do hit them with light sabers and phaser beams, but don't actually do any damage. So the only real flaw in this game comes in trying to balance the puzzle solving with combat. It wasn't a huge problem, but it was certainly annoying at times. Enemies continually swarm you until a certain task is completed. I imagine this works great with a second player but just makes me sad playing alone. If only this had online co-op.

Even though the X360 version is just a port from last generation, it's still worth the money if you have a hankering for some silly Star Wars action. I was just over 52.3% through with the game when I finished Jedi, so there is a ton of replay value in there. With the X360 schedule so dry for the next few weeks, it's hard not to recommend this as a suitable time waster. Just make sure you play it co-operatively.

A PS3 for me, please

Say what you will about Sony's regular scheduled trainwreck press conferences, but it took me until just now (4:30 in the morning on a Friday) to want a PS3. And now I want one badly, even if I have to stomp on a few puppies to do it. You want to make a PS3 omelette you have to break a few puppies (again, it's 4:30). The last few hours have been an innundation of completely gorgeous gameplay videos of almost every announced PS3 title you can think of. Just go to Gamevideos.com and tool around for a bit and you'll see what I mean.

Warhawk being pushed back until next summer is a bummer indeed, but the ground portions are looking great.

Lair looks like beautiful tons of fun after all. Pursuit Force with dragons confirmed.

Afrika is still a complete fragging mystery as to what it is, but god is it stunning.

Devil May Cry 4 doesn't make me want to play it, but it looks beautiful and I was quite content watching a 5-minute video of someone else playing it.

Motorstorm looks pretty on par with the E305 target video, which is shocking in it's own right.

Metal Gear Solid 4 gameplay looks as Metal Gear as ever, but wow is it a looker.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma, gorgeous.

Ridge Racer 7, gorgeous (even if I don't want to play it).

Heavenly Sword's 3 new screenshots - fantastic.

And the crown jewel of the night, Level 5's White Knight Story, perhaps the best-looking game I have ever seen. I'm actually completely stunned that it is a game and not a Pixar film. Just...watch it.

I really need to sleep, I just wanted to make sure people were aware of these things as soon as possible. I can't wait to see what announcements are waiting for me in the morning (1:00 PM).

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Me and my wolf-god

These are good days. Not that I shouldn't be slightly more productive while on the West Coast, but I recently had the honor of watching Scott play through the entirety of Shadow of the Colossus, and was almost as enthralled experiencing it vicariously for the first time as my own deflowering. Then he started right into Ico the minute is was over, which is the best goddamned way to do that sort of thing. Then later that night we showed a lady friend Katamari for the first time.

The evening of vicarious enjoyment was only trumped by yesterday afternoon, when I picked up and popped in Okami for the first time, something I've been anticipating for a good three years now. I remember reading the first preview of it, three apartments ago, about a wolf god named Amaterasu who has to bring back color to a world devoid. That's still roughly the basic premise, but it has so much more going on.

The game starts out more slowly than I had expected, partially because I had played the demo already (I know, I'm a dispicable heathen) which kind of just throws you into the game mechanics. The real game methodically takes its time explaining the setting and characters, and slowly hands out your basic set of abilities and world-exploring tools over the first few hours. That's actually my only complaint about the experience thus far - for something so visually and thematically mature, it toes the line of overexplaining how everything works instead of letting you figure it out for yourself (especially when experimenting and exploring is so gorgeous and fun, it's not like I need to be rushed into figuring everything out).

Outside of that small issue (which I'm sure will be forgotten quite quickly in the grander vision of the game), I'm loving it. Any screenshot will show you how stunning the game is, and it certainly doesn't hurt that I've been playing on a 42" widescreen set. Like most truly great games the HUD is minimal and nowhere to be seen most of the time, the heart-achingly gorgeous visuals guiding you through the experience and encouraging you to try and see everything. Beauty like this will never be obsolete, and if nothing else the game will go down as one where literally any screen grab could be framed and hung on a wall.

The gameplay, while ultimate not structured that differently than the more recent Zeldas, is held together and driven so well by the celestial brush mechanics once they are at your disposal. Like any good adventure game, previously inaccessible areas become relevant when you gain new means of exploration, as do certain spots on the ground, cracks in the wall, and dozens of other visual quirks you notice in your travels. Every area becomes deeper and more intriguing each time you pass back through it, and there are layers of interaction that unfold as you realize the powers at your disposal.

It must also be said that the writing and subsequent localization is completely engrossing and charming, with Pixar-like layers of demographics subtleties, where anyone at any age can feel entertained and interested in the dialogue. Some of the conversations go on a bit long, but once you relax to the pace of the game and stop trying to see and do everything all at once you don't think twice about it.

I was going to write about Cooking Mama as well, but now I'm just excited to get dressed and have lunch so I'm nice and ready for a full evening of more Okami. Don't be jealous, just go buy a copy (and a PS2 if necessary) for yourself.

LwT: Gran Turismo is mighty pricey

I mentioned yesterday that I was worried about Sony's online plan for the PS3. It's expensive to run an integrated network so, I theorized, Sony is either going to offer a bastardized version of Xbox Live or copy the MS model to a T, complete with a yearly subscription fee. It seems as though Sony's plan is actually much worse. In a seemingly unending stream of bad PS3 news, Sony announced yesterday how they will gouge customers for the next Gran Turismo title. Of course, they have officially announced wallet raping for only one title, but if this is a success you know they will milk customers, along with their relatives/friends/casual acquaintances, bone dry.

Gran Turismo is Pokemon for car enthusiasts. People suffer through mediocre gameplay in both titles to catch all the different characters/cars. Every sequel has built upon this theme, keeping the simple gameplay in place with little tweaking while adding even more things to collect. Until now, one only needed a lot of patience to collect everything in these games. While the next versions of Pokemon (for the NDS and presumably the Wii as well) seem to continue this boring though successful trend, Sony has found a way to raise the price of their collect-a-thon by 10,000%. Instead of using fake money earned in the game to buy new cars, you have to use actual, human money. It's like buying a real car except you have nothing tangible to show for it! They have only announced this game/pricing model in Japan right now, but you know it's going to be used in the US and Europe (especially Europe. Sony hates Europeans) if people actually give Sony real money for fake cars.

In real life, a Corvette costs about $50,000. How much will gullible gamers be willing to spend on an imaginary version? Sony is charging a whopping 50 - 100 yen for each car you crave. That's about 1 dollar per car! The game ships with only two tracks as well. If you get bored of those get ready to spend 200 - 500 yen on more. That's about $5 for one track! Oh, and did I mention this isn't even a real Gran Turismo sequel? Remember that half hour demonstration at E3 last year where some mindless Sony Rep actually drove through two whole tracks in a game known as Gran Turismo HD? Everyone assumed it wasn't a real game. Everyone assumed that, since it was just an HD upgrade to GT4 (a PS2 title), Sony was just using it as a demonstration to show off their pretty 1080p graphics. It looks like gamers will have to wait until 2008 for Gran Turismo 5, and have the next two years to pump money into Gran Turismo HD.

Honestly, if Sony is really planning on making back the money they are using on their online network by physically inserting pain into the rectum of gamers, they may end up making more than Microsoft does with a traditional subscription service. Or it may backfire horribly. People are already spending $600 on a console, are they going to spend $100 on every game as well? Are they going to be content buying magic in Final Fantasy, swords in Devil May Cry, and an ending for Resistance? Remember, this lame business model has only been announced for GTHD and only in Japan so far. But this may be the start of some horrible trend.

$3 for Oblivion's Horse Armor doesn't seem quite so horrible anymore, does it?

One quick note - I realize it may sound hypocritical that I am ripping Sony for trying to gouge customers but have no problem with the micro transactions on the Xbox 360 that have been going on since last November. Well, I'm not being hypocritical and am hurt that anyone would think that. The extra maps and skins MS is tossing out there are a bonus upgrade for people who really dig a title. I own Perfect Dark Zero and have put many hours into the multiplayer mode even though I didn't download the extra maps. The extra content in these games are just for diehard fans that can't get enough.

Gran Turismo, though, is completely built upon collecting cars. That's the entire game! The gameplay isn't good and there isn't a vibrant online community. By charging for more cars, and only giving 30 right out of the box, Sony is clearly raping customers. This is akin to Electronic Arts only including 10 teams in Madden. Yes, you can play with only a third of the league, but any casual fan is going to want more teams. If EA charged $1 for every additional team, you know just about everyone would spend the extra $22. Madden would be incomplete without every team in the NFL and Gran Turismo is incomplete without hundreds of cars available.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

LwT: Microsoft bores Japan and Tingle gets screwed

I know this is only my third edition of Lunch with Tom, but I should throw out there the spontaneous nature of these columns. I don't plan ahead at all. Sure, my mind is swarming with ideas while I mindlessly highlight document numbers during the first four hours of my shift, but I certainly don't settle on anything ahead of time. The point is to gush about whatever is taking over my thoughts at the moment. I think it's worked fairly well so far.

Today, however, was supposed to be different. There was going to be breaking news today. Last night, as the clock crept closer to midnight, I was staying up as late as my eyes would allow. Microsoft was going to have a press conference in Tokyo, the first major announcements of the Tokyo Game Show were imminent. Clearly, MS is going to announce something, right? Che, formerly of EGM but now working for the Big M, even said a huge announcement should be expected. What could it be? Devil May Cry for the X360? Maybe Resident Evil 5 exclusively on the system? Oh! Maybe Rare has a new game coming out! Thankfully, I went to bed at an early enough hour so I could function today. The big announcement was definitely not worth staying up late for.

Last year at this time I stayed up until the crack of dawn. Nintendo was unveiling the Wii controller. That is big news. The megaton last night: a firmware update for the X360 later this year will allow games to be played in 1080p.

Wow.

That is the lamest "huge" announcement I have ever heard. How many people does this even affect? A ridiculously small percentage of people actually own an HDTV that can support 1080p. I think it's safe to assume most of those people aren't even gamers, just lousy richies. Here is where I'm slightly confused, though. I don't know much about boring technology, but I do remember some bits of information which surfaced after Sony unveiled different versions of the PS3 earlier this year. From what I understand, one needs an HDMI port for the TV to receive that uber-HD signal. So while this news may sound impressive to technophiles, this doesn't actually mean anything at all. Can't the X360 already do 1080i anyway? I can't even tell the difference between HD and regular TV when my friend changes between ESPN and ESPN HD. Are there actually people out there who can tell the difference between 1080i and 1080p? Are there people out there who actually care about such an insignificant thing?

If this is Microsoft's most impressive Japanese announcement I think it's safe to assume they have officially raised the white flag. I understand that nothing would be able to convince Japanese gamers to buy this console, but a little effort would be appreciated. I was hoping they would announce some partnership with Square, other than that crappy MMORPG that no one cared about. How many people even played the X360 version of FFXI? "Yes," an MS spokesman could have said, "Final Fantasy XIII is still PS3 exclusive, but we have FFXII-2. Isn't that something?" And it would have been! Instead, it seems they are quite content selling 12 consoles a month. Just release your last two Japanese games - Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey - and be done with the whole territory.

Since Nintendo isn't even making the trip to Tokyo, I'm hoping Sony does something mildly interesting later this week. Everyone assumes this will be the moment Sony finally shines, but we have expected big things before only to be disappointed. I'm not going to hold out hope, but here is one thing I would like to know - what is Sony planning on doing with their online network? I highly doubt they will be able to create an integrated community like MS has. Sony claims their network will not only rival Live in functionality, but will free of charge as well. This won't happen. It just doesn't seem possible. So they will either have a crummy online system or will announce a monthly fee. Either way, I'm very interested how this turns out. Note to Sony - if you have bad news to deliver, do it at the beginning of your conference. And don't talk about Giant Crabs or taunt the Japanese for the tiny allotment of systems they are getting this year. People hate being taunted.

You want something more exciting than this? I was listening to the GAF Podcast today. GAF is, of course, a message board. I have no idea why a message board has their own Podcast, but I was shocked to find out it was better than any other Podcast I have listened to. You can use this to fill your G void until the next edition of our Podcast surfaces. I didn't add this paragraph to gush about this new show, though. Rather, at one point they talked about this Tingle RPG that just came out on the NDS in Japan. Like any rational gamer, Tingle creeps the hell out of me. He's that floating elf guy in the more recent Zelda games. I have no idea why Nintendo ever thought it was a good idea to make such a character, but I am even more baffled that they built a whole game around him. However, the game sounds hysterical. The goal is to make enough money to be happy. So you go around collecting rubies (I'm not sure how the game actually plays...) and, when you have enough, you give them to this guy. What guy? Just some random guy with big promises. Every time you give him more money, though, he has changed appreciably since last you met. He just keeps using the money you give him to buy fancy stuff for himself. I have no idea if this game is actually fun to play, but I am seriously interested in it now. A Nintendo game starring a gay elf who gets swindled out of money? I am so there.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Lunch with Tom: Bioware and more Wii

The big news today: Bioware has officially started up a handheld development team and are hard at work on a new game for the Nintendo DS. How about that? You may remember my brief love affair with Bioware in the past. They were the developers of Knights of the Old Republic, a game that, as the Xbox is officially dead at this point, will always be known as one of the greatest pieces of software ever to grace that fine platform. Because of my ravenous love for KoTOR - one of the few RPGs I actually enjoyed last generation - I will always have a soft place in my heart for Bioware. Remember when I was hyping up Jade Empire as the second coming? It wasn't, but it was still damn fun. I can't wait to see what they have in store for NDS owners.

The only problem I see are the shoddy, restrictive graphics we've grown to tolerate. The NDS churns out graphics about on par with what was on the N64, except on a much smaller, eye-straining scale. I've seen these fancy videos of Mario Basketball and Final Fantasy III, two Square games that show 3D is possible on the greatest handheld system ever conceived, but they don't exactly impress me. FFIII actually has slow down as the characters walk around the map. Sorry, you can pump out all the polygons you want, but a choppy game is a crappy game.

The main reason KotOR is so amazing is the sheer immersion Bioware offered. Obviously, I love the system of choices and consequences. I can't imagine playing an RPG at this point that doesn't offer actual choices. But there was more than that. Every word in the game was spoken in either the common tongue (English) or that creepy alien language. Either way, it added to the feeling of travel and investigation. And to wrap it all up, the game looked sharp. It wasn't mind-blowing graphically, but it looked and felt like the Star Wars universe.

The NDS is not going to be able to replicate a universe like that. The best of the best on the system are great because of their gameplay. Trauma Center, for instance, looks quite awful graphically, but the gameplay is fast and frantic. For all its plusses, KotOR had merely average gameplay. Trying to put that game on the NDS, where the story has to carry the experience, would be a complete waste of their time and mine. Old school RPGs are for neurotic fanboys. Bioware will have to create an interesting, original way to interact with characters, such as the upcoming NDS RPG Contact, to even be considered relevant. I have hope they can come up with something more than ugly KotOR with touch screen controls.

But there is more in the video game industry than unannounced NDS RPGs. Nintendo is still trying their damnedest to steer hardcore gamers away from the Wii. Apparently, they are going to focus on women and the elderly. The elderly!? Are they mad? Sure, it would be fun beating the hell out of granny in Super Smash Bros. Brawl for a few rounds, but give me some real competition Nintendo. Old people can't play games!

And that's the problem. Nintendo is actually going to make games for old people. I have no idea how they will do this. Most old people can't even put on shoes, how are they going to manipulate a Wii-mote? And what kind of games would old people want anyway? One of those clocks that ticks down the seconds until they're supposed to die? Virtual placebos? A game where they have to match the face of a relative with the correct name? These are not games! Can you imagine a parent sitting grandma and Baby Billy in front of a Wii, using that system as a babysitter for both young and old, as parents go out and live it up?

So Nintendo is heavily targeting two segments of the market that have no interest in games. Sounds awful, right? Well, it kind of is, but I'm still hopeful. You have to consider how much disposal cash these groups have. If the stereotype is true, women spend all of their excess money on shoes and makeup. And old people, well, they don't even have excess money. And with Social Security quickly dwindling down to nothing, they may not even have bread money for long. So what do all these cruel stereotypes mean? Nintendo only needs to release two or three "crap games" a year to satiate this tiny market. Look at the NDS. That's huge with women and old people, right? Well, how many games are actually targeting them? I can think of two in America - Brain Age and Nintendogs. That's it. You'll get a few of those games on the Wii along with the requisite 3rd party clones, and the rest of Nintendo's time can be consumed with making real games.

Nintendo has to know that, even under the best-case scenario, converted non-gamers will only buy one or two games a year. Even casual gamers only buy Madden and GTA. So Nintendo's focus should still be on real gamers and fun games. They'll continue to make sequels to every franchise in their library, aside from Kid Icarus of course, with the occasional Wii Walker to rouse interest in the far-sighted. Seriously, all Nintendo needs is an article in USA Today to be considered truly mainstream. No use wasting actual time with those non-games.

Monday, September 18, 2006

Lunch With Tom: Wii!

The strangest thing happened last week: I got a job. Yes, the Tom you loved is now dead. But from all bad things some good must rise. For twenty minutes a day I will resurrect my lifeless course and give you a taste of the magical world of video games. Yes, those fools entrusted me with a PC of my very own, complete with fully equipped keyboard and ready access to the internet, so I will update the G every day as my lunch period quickly winds down. We'll call it Lunch With Tom. No 1,500 word, anti-war/CoD rants here, just a quick note about whatever is on my mind. As an added bonus, I'll even keep it video game related.

What should I talk about today? I am knee deep in Lego Star Wars II, but I'd like to finish the last campaign before I offer my opinion. Since that's all I have been playing lately, I'll have to open up my bag of belated news and see if some major event happened last week that has not yet been discussed. There has to be something, right?

Oh look! Nintendo announced the official price and release date for the Wii! How could I forget such a thing? For those who haven't heard, we Americans are getting the system in just two months! While most of us have already marked November 19th as the day the 49ers squash the stupid Seahawks once and for all, there is now another sport entirely to look forward to on that day. Nintendo was kind enough to take away all matters of consumer choice for their new system and pack in a game with the system itself. How old school of them. Nintendo is actually forcing people to get a little bit of exercise with their new toy. Wii Sports - complete with Wii Bowling, Baseball, Boxing, Golf and Tennis - is included right with the system. Will it be as enjoyable as Super Mario World? Only time will tell.

You also get one system, a power cord (!), at least one A/V cable, and that fancy controller you may have heard about. Oh, and they even included one Stodgy as well.

If you are thinking, "Boy sir, I would gladly pay $250 for such a package!" you are in luck. Nintendo jacked the price $50 higher than rational beings expected. I know I've been saying for years that I've never bought a system for more than $200 and don't plan on starting anytime soon, but you are fully aware that my hypocrisy knows no bounds when Nintendo comes calling to play. Yes, I am quite pissed that greedy Nintendo is gouging it's fine customers out of 50 more dollars, but that will not deter this rabid fan for even one moment. It's still frustrating that I will have to shell out so much money at launch. $250 for the system, plus $50 more for Zelda, and then an additional $60 for an extra controller. And don't shake your judging head at me. I don't have an extra X360 controller because the darn thing actually goes online. You can't expect something like that on a Wii. If I want to play two-player Tennis I have to get another controller. I know every system has those darn games/accessories that bump up the price, but I was really banking on bringing home all those gadgets, in addition to Wii Sports, for under $300.

I've been hearing some reports that 3rd party developers are quite peeved with Nintendo for including one of their own games with the system. I understand from Nintendo's vantage why Wii Sports makes for a good pack-in, but there is no question 3rd party sales will be hurt. I can't imagine buying another game with the system now that I have Zelda and Wii Sports to keep me occupied, and I'm sure there are many other people out there who won't pick up Monkey Ball or Red Steel because of this. Of course, we all know Nintendo's systems are built on 1st party software, but it would be nice to have a system with a diverse lineup of games for once. If I were a 3rd party developer, I would have already pushed back my launch games until at least mid-December to avoid overkill. I know Nick is crazy enough to pass on Zelda at launch, but most people will be content with The Greatest Game Ever for at least a few weeks. By the time people finish that 100-hour epic quest, Red Steel won't look nearly as shiny sitting on that shelf. That Lord of the Rings editon of Sonic coming early next year could turn into a mega hit now. It looks damn fun, and it should be arriving just when people are waking from their Zelda Dream. See GRAW and Oblivion for examples of post-launch software selling a ton.

Of course, my mind is still overflowing with Wii-Pinions, but I must end this mini-rant soon or my boss may explode. Tune in tomorrow when I talk about more video game stuff!

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