State of the Industry: Dimps is the New, New

Alright people,

Anyone who has read this blog knows from time to time I like to poke fun at our old friend Sonic. But it would appear that his name is about to be redeemed, as shown in the clip below.

That's right! Everyone's favorite hedgehog is getting a proper sequel with the release of Sonic 4.

But, is it too late?! Has years and years of punishment inflicted on the gaming populous supposed to be forgotten? Probably not, although Sonic Team appears to be taking a back seat to this project and leaving it in the capable hands of Dimps. A studio responsible for the last 2 good sonic franchises (Sonic Rush series, Sonic Advance series) and not the recent horrors released by Sonic Team (Sonic Unleashed, Sonic and the Black Knight, Sonic and the Secret Rings and Sonic the Hedgehog 2006).

So should I be excited? I am hot and cold on this one as well. Having been burned by some of these previous titles myself there is not a really good answer. Sure, 2D Sonic has always been the best Sonic, so logically a 2.5D version is the version most consumers had been waiting for. But something in me feels like maybe too much time has passed. Maybe that sense of speed that I loved was somehow attached to nostalgia and not gameplay. Platforming has never been Sonic's strong suit, despite the game being considered a platformer.

Who is Dimps? Well, if you have played pretty much any Dragonball game for PS2, PS3, or Xbox360, then you know who Dimps is. Still not following me? How about Street Fighter 4, have you played that game? Thought so. So, these guys make good games, some would say great games. This studio was founded in Osaka, Japan by former SNK lead designer Takashi Nishiyama on March 6, 2000. This gentleman could be considered the father of the various 2D fighting franchises, of which SNK was made famous by (Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting, & King of Fighters).

A moment of concern comes with the tagline following Sonic 4, "Episode 1".... Why oh why Sega would this game be episodic? It just does not seem like Sonic 4 would benefit from this distribution model. Sure, download only is the way to go, following the success of titles like Shadow Complex or S'plosion Man, but Episodic? Really? Only time will tell whether or not this franchise has officially gone bust; but while we wait, there is still room to make fun of Sonic after the jump.

Blog Report: November 11th

The Official U.S. Playstation Blog
70’s Mustang Joins the Gran Turismo 5 Lineup at the Gran Turismo Awards
Alex Armour // Manager, Public Relations
November 6th, 2009
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2009/11/70s-mustang-joins-the-gran-turismo-5-lineup-at-the-gran-turismo-awards/

A love for cars, trucks and SUVs is the motivating force behind the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA). About 7 years ago, Polyphony Digital and their hit game Gran Turismo teamed up with SEMA to hold a secondary awards ceremony tied into the SEMA auto show, called the Gran Turismo Awards. To understand why this is at least an expert's judge of performance, Gran Turismo’s pedigree lies in the facts that they are the benchmark against which all other racing games are currently judged. Back to the real cars, the contestants are from five different categories and will be judged by Kazunori Yamauchi, creator of Gran Turismo and resident car nerd. He will judge each vehicles appearance and history. Then, once each winner is evaluated, the best in show is chosen, who will have the privilege of their car being featured in game. Due to the long development process, the past two winners will also feature their car in game. So, currently leading into the release of Gran Turismo 5, there are going to be 3 award winners featured from the past 3 SEMA shows; an Audi TT, Infiniti G37 and 70’s Ford Mustang Transcammer. It is good for these two communities to share promotion of each other's efforts. SEMA puts emphasis and supports the auto tuning community and of course the majority of gamers who purchase GT 5 support that community. Using a cross promotional event such as this can only benefit both companies. Congrats to the most recent winner Phil Koenan, I can’t wait to take that Mustang out on the track.

Set on stun
Flashback — The Atari Mindlink
Shawn Deena
09/08/09
http://setonstun.com/2009/11/flashback-the-atari-mindlink/

Technology is continuing to evolve at an ever present rate, but our imagination tends to cause humans to get ahead of the current applications in technology. Take for instance the Atari Mindlink, a monumental failure adverted by Atari, the Mindlink was meant to eliminate the need of a controller. Instead, it seemed to just bring upon headaches as users tried to move their eyebrows across infrared sensors to control games such as; Pong, Bionic Breakthrough and Mind Maze. Although the product was never released, it’s interesting to see what people thought was the solution to the problem 25 years ago and where we have come to find this solution now. If you look at the Wii it is one step towards no longer having buttons to control a game. Microsoft hopes to take this even further by eliminating any sort of controller at all. Instead of using your mind (or rather your brow), the device codenamed NATAL uses a stereoscopic 3D camera to capture the movement of the user. This translates into a form of hands off approach to gaming. Based on the recent test runs, it looks to be a success in waiting, but only time will tell since it will inevitably be released. Hopefully when they release the mock up for the device, they won’t mention how it “increases computer and game system intent to purchase”. I think something like this should be designed around the intention for increasing immersion, sales will come

State of the Industry: You Killed It!

Oh Sega, remember way back when you used to make hardware and there came this little white hope that would usher you in a new generation of on-line home video game consoles? And then you killed it before it had a chance to blossom?!! Well, I have not forgotten and with the 10 year anniversary coming up for the Dreamcast (9/9/09), I felt it would be appropriate to pay homage to the under appreciated genius of it.




From its quirky logo and ridiculous controller cord, the Dreamcast had all the potential in the world of becoming the next big thing, until Sony stole its thunder and sent Sega running to the software industry like no tomorrow. Sure, you still make arcade games Sega, but the idea of a home console designed by you seems like a distant memory. Speaking of arcade games, that is why I fell in love with the Dreamcast in the first place, because of how many of Sega's best arcade titles were so easily ported. I could go into an endless list of fighting games that made the system great, but rather, have chosen to explore some of the other unique games which made the console great. This is not a list of the best games the system had to offer. Its more of a list of the games that I remember fondly. Enjoy!



Sonic Adventure - has to be the last Sonic game that I not only played all the way through, but enjoyed at the same time! Think about it, when was the last time anyone could say that about a Sonic game? The characters were fantastic and the 3D models really got me excited about the Dreamcast's potential. Despite a unique take on traditional platforming of the series, the sense of speed was still fantastic. Don't forget the portable memory mini-game involving the Chao, probably not Sega's greatest idea, but ambitious. Sadly, Sonic would only begin to age worse as time went on and until they go to a 2.5D High Definition Sonic game, I wish this mascot the long sleep he deserves. If only to keep them from making another Wii game...




Jet Grind Radio - looking into how games have changed over the past 10 years, cel-shading has become almost common place. There are even new designs types to the genre of cel-shading as Gearbox Studios tries to interpret it differently (Coined "Concept Art Style") or Mad World, who did it all black on white with a red motif. Though anyway you slice it, Jet Grind was the first to do it in my memory and it fit perfectly into the DJ/Raver generation in which it was released. Racing around the shopping district of Shibuya, tagging, picking fights with rival gangs and the police were the staple of Jet Grind. And Beat with his iconic goggles, gigantic headphones and personalized t-shirt earned him a place in Sega's history.

Seaman - where do I begin with this monstrosity. Seaman was like a bad acid trip where somebody took the business model of a tamagotchi, the face of a Japanese salary-man and the personality of Oscar the Grouch, then slapped all this on a fish. Finish by having Leonard Nemoy narrate, now you have one of the most interesting games to date. The objective of Seaman was raise this little guy from a tadpole like state to a full amphibian, legs and all. But the charm came from your interaction with Seaman, where through a microphone you could teach your seaman to talk, respond and eventually critique your personal flaws. Ignore the game long enough and you would be greeted by one pissed off fish. Tell him to "eat shit" and he would defecate on your TV. Like I said, charming...





Soul Calibur - Fall in love with 3D fighters all over again. That is how this game came to the marketplace and sucked a couple hundred hours out of my life and and the lives of my friends. Sure, it is probably the easiest 3D fighter out there or at least the most approachable for the masses. But that only made it more entertaining, since anyone gun shy was immediately won over. The hardcore had to love it anyway, since it offered a ton of content ranging from a plethora of diverse characters, alternate costumes, unlockable art, multiple fight modes and lets face it, Ivy's breast. Stop looking at me like that... I mean, you played this game too, right? Nuff said.







Power Stone 2 - For round 2 on Capcom's 3D fighter, they added support for one of the best multiplayer functions to date, up to four challengers. This made the replay value on versus battle extremely high, packed with frantic multiplayer and some ridiculous brawling. Plus, adding new level designs, character models and weapons that dropped, helped to make the game feel fresh over its predecessor. I enjoyed this game much more than Smash Bros at the time, not only cause of the 3D environment, but I felt the graphics put Nintendo to shame. 10 years later Smash Bros has become Nintendo's competitive fighting game, while Power Stone is subjected to becoming a collection on UMD, for shame.

Retro Gaming Round Up: Final Fantasy VII

Remember in my last post, where I stated that the nostalgia will always be better than the real thing? Well, I am happy to report I have been proven wrong. Final Fantasy VII was recently released after Sony's E3 Press Conference and I was happy to shell out the cost of a movie ticket ($10) to experience 70+ Hours of classic J-RPG action. For me, this was the game that lit the fire. Sure, I had an SNES for my first system and played my share of every console since the inception of the Nintendo, but the Sony Playstation and Final Fantasy 7 are where my addiction began. Although it was my first RPG and I was only 13 at the time, its story stays with me and after over a decade of RPGs since then, I was unsure it would still meet my expectations. I was surprisingly mistaken, it seems my years of experience have only made the game better.



Right now, I am over 25 hours in and have spent a ton of time tearing through the main story. Side Quests will become a little more important in like 10 hours or so. The narrative is one of the most impressive aspects; even with the limited technology, its characters, enviroments and overall ambience is still better than many RPGs being made today (see Infinite Undiscovery or the latest Star Ocean). There is alot of chemistry in the group once everyone joins the party, whether its Yuffie obsessing over materia or Barrett causing a ruckus, these 3D sprites come with alot of personality. Speaking of materia, this is why years of playing RPGs pays off, because now I am paying attention to all the complexities of the battle system. For example how materia affects your stats or how specific weapons will affect the growth of materia, these are things I had not considered when I was a kid. The process of getting through the game seems much easier as well, especially when taking advanatge of the Enemy Skill materia during the lower levels. Even materias like Deathblow and Destruct, which in the past I remembered ignoring, have become a important components in my arsenal.

A few complaints though; the graphic backgrounds can be difficult to interact with because you have to face the object. Just to be knit picky this could easily have been solved by integrating the analog stick in... I'm looking at you SquEnix. Also, the mini-games in specific stages still drive me crazy. Like trying to sneak past the guards in the Shinra building or cracking the safe to get Vincent's key, I tend to wish they weren't there at all. Lots left for me to do and I am probably going to be a completionist about this so it could be 80 more hours before I omnislash Sephiroth's face. Guess I should get back to the game, but in the meantime Cid Highwind recommends you "Shut up! Sit your ass down in that chair and DRINK YOUR GODDAMN TEA!"

Retro Gaming Round Up: Greatest Heavyweights of the Ring

Many of you will remember a little game from 1992 called Evander Holyfield's Real Deal Boxing; sure Nintendo had it's Punch Out!! and George Foreman's KO boxing, but if you owned a Sega Genesis it was all about the Holyfield. So, while cleaning out my garage, I found a mysterious box that belonged to my roommate, which low and behold it contained gaming gold!! The original Sega Mega-Drive and Sega Genesis in working condition! From Mortal Kombat to Sonic the Hedgehog, a plethora of childhood memories rushed back and there seemed to be enough entertainment to quench my thirst for retro gaming. But, when I found the spiritual successor to Holyfield's video game debut, titled Greatest Heavyweights of the Ring, only one thought ran through my head... to quote Michael Buffer "Let's get ready to rumble!!"

Now, although I never owned a Genesis, my neighbor did and at an age of 8, it seemed like one of the coolest things on the planet (until I got a Super Nintendo). Playing Holyfield boxing in his musky basement happens to be one of my fondest memories of the Genesis. I couldn't tell you if critics thought it was a great game back then, but to me it was the closest I could get to the ring. I guess my nostalgia could have skewed my memory of the game, but I had to see if it still felt the same.

So, I jumped right in and started pummeling the NPC's. It all was what I could remember with a fighting system reminiscant of a digital "Rock'em Sock'em Robots". One thing I noticed after a couple fights was the technical aspect of the gameplay hidden behind the simple controls; where Muhammad Ali was a little faster and threw lots of Jabs, Rocky Marciano was a brawler going for the big hits. It was nice to see that not every fighter felt the same. The Sound & Graphics were crispy on my HDTV (smirk), but hey thats why its retro. After a couple hours fatigue was beginning to set in. Not that I was physically tired, but I had become desensitized to the wonder games like this brought me. Instead, if the NPC made it to round 5, I found myself becoming bored. A game that I once played on and off for hours on end had become tedious. With only 3 real punches per boxer and limited movement and guarding, I realized that somethings will never be the same. Since playing boxing games like Fight Night, from a technical aspect, this game cannot provide my brain entertainment for more than a couple matches. I am not unhappy with my latest experience in retro gaming. I am more disappointed in the realization that my expectations can never be met by playing this game, since I am not the 8 year old in my neighbors musky basement anymore.

Retro Gaming Round Up: Quiz & Dragons

Every once and awhile I like to go back and find games that remind me of how it all started. Other times I am lucky enough to find a game that I missed while growing up. Either way, it is important to pay homage to those games that have inspired so many of the "next-gen" games we are currently enjoying. While listening to The Hotspot Podcast last week, Tom Mcshea was part of an interview with David Sirlin, who had previously worked on a collection of classic games from Capcom. Tom seemed completely stoked about the infamous Quiz and Dragons and I couldn't help but share his enthusiasm and picked it up for myself.

Originally released in arcades in 1992, the game combined some elements of an RPG with that of a board game, to create a unique twist to the quiz game genre. But really, the best part of playing this today is the questions! Because there is nothing like playing this 17 years in the future and trying to remember the names of all the New Kids on the Block. Not only that, but with 4 selectable characters, you can be a Fighter, Amazon, Wizard, or NINJA! Ninjas are the bomb... just in case you wondered why thats in caps. This game was part of Capcom Classics Collection vol. 2 and came with a couple other gems like Strider and 1941, so if the appeal of a Quiz Game/RPG + 19 other classics sounds like your cup of tea and you have a PS2, Xbox or PSP, go pick it up, it was only $15 at my local video game retailer. Also look at the first comments for examples of some of my favorite questions in the quiz.