Sony Press Event @ GDC 2010

I am at a loss, but if you have not watched this or heard, Sony has unveiled the Playstation Move. The official title for their new motion control hardware. Frankly, the names are kind of lame (sub-controller...really?) and the games look like Wii HD...sigh. The tech is there and I still believe that there is alot of potential in the device, especially for augmented reality. Though the launch looks like it may be a little underwhelming. I will keep my fingers crossed and please take a look at this video, care of G4tv.com.

PS3 Games - E3 2010 - LittleBigPlanet

Prague Day 1

Made it to Prague and had almost no problems. Still having a little trouble with this Wifi, but maybe that's because I keep trying to find it for free. Anyway, it has been beautiful so far, a little cold, but we've been keeping busy. Below are some pictures from our day at Prague Castle. There is some video, but I have not gotten it to upload quite right. Hopefully it will be up soon, but enjoy the slideshow until then.

                            

State of the Industry: Expectations and Bioshock 2

Expectations. Expectations define many things in how gamers approach games. Sometimes it is the hype built by publishers which can set gamers expectations awry. Other times it is the way a demo plays or how previews leave journalists after the first impression, but lately there is another way expectations can setup games for failure; their predecessors. The most recent example of this is Bioshock 2, which by all normal standards would be considered a great game, if not for expectations. When the sequel was first announced and it became apparent Irrational Games was not developing it (creators of Bioshock), the fans heaved a sigh of disappointment. Bioshock, which will forever be known as one of the most immersive single player experiences of this generation had created an expectation that no sequel could live up to. Maybe it was the idea of returning to Rapture, the setting from the original. Or it may have been the almost novel idea of returning as a Big Daddy, protectors of the Little Sisters and a most deadly enemy from the first one.

Personally, I played the original and harbored some of the very same feelings that many others did. I doubted my desire to return to Rapture and felt unsure about the whole concept. When 2k announced the games delay to develop a separate multiplayer component, the fans were up in arms. They wanted 2k's head. I personally did not care, because the number of games which have terrible & awesome multiplayer components has no effect on me either way. I rarely have time to play competitive multiplayer when I game. I am a more varied gamer and prefer to change up my experiences, rather than become exceptional at any one game. Plus I play a lot of RPGs which eat up 40+ hours of my life typically. So, when the reviews came in, I was excited to here many of the journalists I followed said it was great! I began talking about it around the house and for Valentine’s Day, Lauren bought me it as a gift (yeah, she is that cool). I put that in almost immediately, despite still being addicted to Mass Effect 2 and trying to finish up Bayonetta. Within the first hour or so, I was back in Rapture and loving every minute of it. So, why all the hate? How come almost every little comment I read about the game starts with "let me just say, this game is not nearly as good as the first one"?

Sure, there are things that still suck; like the Vita-Chambers are weird if you respawn in a place you don't remember or the shooting may still feel a little stiff, but look at all the new things they tried. Most obvious is the dual-wielding of plasmids and weapons. Second, the introduction of charged plasmids and the traps. Third, the mini-games involving little sisters, where now you have to protect them as they harvest corpses. Fourth, all new weapon types and so on and so forth. My point is that despite any shortcomings you could find, there are just as many new innovations. I don't think that we should fault 2k and the various studios who worked on this game, for not being able to provide you the same experience Bioshock did. You have to understand that the first time to experience anything is going to be much different than each additional visit. For me Bioshock 2 was a fantastic return to Rapture, which answered some additional questions and helps shed light on the splicers civil war. If you are at all interested in an atmospheric shooter, go give it a play through. You will be happy you did.

So, will we learn to be more open to sequels in the future? Hopefully, but it is going to be up to how we setup our expectations and what we define as acceptable. It is all about perception.

*Note: images are courtesy of a Google Image Search

Vacation Anouncement

The blog may be featuring some non-Video Game related content from 3/12 – 3/21. Lauren and I will be traveling abroad, through Central Europe for Spring Break and I plan to keep friends and family updated using this space. Lauren bought this sweet Flip camera, so there should be some video going up later on in the month as well as pictures and observations. Cities on the agenda include Den Haag, Prague, Budapest and Amsterdam, so expect something exciting!!

Blog Report

Just preparing for my trip to Europe at this point. I have started on some Final Fantasy 13, but I can tell already that it is going to be a slow burn. I may have to take the next few months to complete that one. Anyway, here is what was in the news last week.

Platinum Games' Third-Person Shooter Won't Have Multiplayer [Bummer]
Richard Aoki, the only Asian leader in the Black Panther Party
The PS2's First Ten Years: A Timeline [Sony]
Study: Wii Can Alleviate Elderly Depression, Too [Exergaming]
Report: Sony To Launch New PlayStation Smart Phone In 2010 [Sony]
SOCOM 4: It’s Official!
Ex-Infinity Ward Heads Claim "Orwellian" Moves By Activision [Activision]
EA Cuts Deal To Publish Shank, Deathspank [Ea Partners]
Meet Blackie The Mutant Penguin [Mutants]
New Tomb Raider Game Drops Tomb Raider Name [Lara Croft]
Don't Throw Up, Xbox Japan Man! [Clips]
The Year The Army Stopped Niagara Falls [Retro Mega Engineering]
Insomniac Working on Two Games Right Now, Won't Say What [Insomniac]
Japan: It's Not Funny Anymore [Feature]
Step up
A Bit More On that Halo Reach Multiplayer Vid [Halo: Reach]
Valve's Portal Puzzle So Far: The Files Recovered From Aperture Science [Valve]
THQ Opens Major Testing Facility At SMU's Guildhall
Activision Cans Infinity Ward Studio Heads
The Characters Of Zenonia 2 [Gamevil]
Sony Buys LittleBigPlanet Developer Media Molecule [Acquisitions]
Gravity Hook HD, From The Makers Of Canabalt [Digital]
Blacklight Shooter Goes Downloadable [Fps]
Activision Cites Infinity Ward "Insubordination" [Infinity Ward]
Do Your Part For The Galaxy — Join The Empire Today! [Star Wars]

Hitting it off: Puzzle Quest iPhone

Though not a Co-op game, Lauren and I have been playing this game side by side for the past few months. Therefore, it seemed like a good subject for our usual posts.

S: So, Lauren and I have become addicted to the Puzzle Quest craze, having both picked up the iPhone version of Chapters 1&2. I myself am not the biggest fan of the Puzzle Game genre, but my recent infatuation with Pop Cap games, combined with an obsession for RPGs; it seemed like a great idea. Sure enough, Puzzle Quest and I, we’re a match made in heaven.

L: Haha, I wouldn’t take that to heart D3 (Puzzle Quest Publisher), he tells me the same thing every time I make him chicken parmesan! All kidding aside, I’m personally a huge fan of puzzle games and Pop Cap. In my opinion, D3 has perfected the model for this genre – short, sweet, easy to pick up, and wonderfully obsessive. I would describe it as Bejeweled meets Baulder’s Gate. I don’t see you as a big Bejeweled fan babe, what made you pick this up so quickly?

S: Honestly, it was all the podcasts and rave reviews the game received. Initially, it was tough going trying to understand the complexities behind causing damage, gaining money and XP, and using your spells to control the board and land a “heroic effort”. But after gaining a few levels and maintaining that sweet sense of victory, I could not be stopped. I spent the first twenty levels building up my citadel and razing other cities to generate income. Eventually, settling on a Griffin as my mount, because let’s face it, they’re BADASS! Also, I chose a knight as my class, so most of my spells utilized the Purple Stars. What was your specialization again?

L: C’mon baby, you know my affinity for all things magical. Definitely picked the wizard and focused on fire mastery. Initially, I paid little attention to all attributes other than leveling up when prompted. The first few battles were a little confusing. After all, in Bejeweled you are trying to max out a score before running out of moves, not kill an opponent. Once I started to understand the battle system it became much more addictive. A big component of the game is to understand your enemies. Is it better just to unleash on them and get them out of the way as quickly as possible? Or do they have mana-based attacks that can be devastating to your character? Both require much different strategies. My only complaint about this game was the level cap at 40. I wasn’t even close to beating it, but felt disengaged after hitting it.

S: Yeah, me too. I plan on revisiting the game with a new class, maybe bumping up the difficulty a little bit to make the levels last longer, but man was I disappointed to see I had capped out about halfway through the game. My issue was probably also related to the massive amount of experience I was getting, since purple stars equal XP and that was the objects I destroyed the most on the board. Also, leveling the mounts was a little unbalanced. In order to level, you must fight your mount in a timed battle, but as they get higher the time is shorter. So much so that by level 15, you only had 3 sec to make a move!

L: I was able to get my mount up to level 20, but at that point my opponents were not killing me, I was killing myself (5 damage done to self for turns > 3 seconds). It got a little out of hand. While you do cap out at 40, you can still use gold to buy skills in your Citadel. I may continue to play and see how high I can max out my wizard. There is also the challenge of capturing more mounts and learning additional spells. I think this was a neat addition to the game, especially when I received Stomp – one that would randomly push down the board, usually having devastating effects on opponents.

S: That had to be the part which added the most replay value. The Citadel allowed not only the capturing and leveling of mounts, but also the capturing of enemies and leveling of individual skills via money. Combined with a weapon creation system, equally as diverse, it does seem like there is potential for your character to become truly powerful. I would highly recommend this game to any iPhone owner and if you are not one, maybe check out Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, PSP or your PC. Would you agree?

L: Definitely!

*note: all images are the result of a Google image search

Blog Report

Wrapped of the Bayonetta Review and finishing off some Bioshock 2. Cannot wait for Heavy Rain to come in the mail. Lauren and I will be playing through that one togetgher, so expect another hitting it off in the future. But while you wait...

Justified Excitement: Just Cause 2 Extended Hands-On
Scientists Have Discovered Booze That Won't Give You A Hangover [Mad Science]
Sony out(r)age and PR blunders
Collateral Damage In The War On Piracy [Well Played]
Itagaki And Tecmo Settle Legal Brouhaha [Legal]
How Many Gigabytes Is FFXIII's Xbox 360 Install? [Xbox 360]
Why We Play Games, And Why We Grumble About Them [Column]
Sony Computer Entertainment Inc
The Borrower Arrietty - New Studio Ghibli movie
Metroid: Other M: A Change of Perspective [Impressions]
What Your $60 Really Buys [Bidness]
What Ever Happened to That Other Prince of Persia? [Prince Of Peria]
Appreciate The Fine Art of Naughty Dog At The "Unleashed" Exhibit [Naughty Dog]
Check out this collection of awesome old arcade marquees. Such...
American Science Fiction Icons Just Look Better In France [Cosplay]
When A Spartan Loves A Stormtrooper [Clips]
Warner Buys Batman: Arkham Asylum Devs [Business]
Why Apple Declared War on Titilation (For The Women and Children) [ITunes]
Best of FingerGaming: From Plants vs. Zombies to Noby Noby Boy
Are We Gonna Be Together?
How To Do A Red Carpet Right: Add Video Games [Dice2010]
Motion Control in Gaming: Rationalizing a New Dissonance [Well Played]
Inside Grasshopper with Silent Hill and Doshin the Giant Developers [Top]
OnLive Resurfaces: Crysis On An iPhone, Data Centers Located [Dice 2010]
The Latest Prince of Persia Plays With Solid Water and Flexible Time [Prince Of Persia: Forgotten Sands]

Sony "Where's the PR?"

As many users may already aware, the Playstation 3 has run into a little error that effected it’s users in a big way. On March 1st, the internal clock on all “fat” PS3’s was a little mixed up and thought we were currently in a leap year. The cell or some higher function inside the PS3 new better and every “fat” in the wild began to beat itself up over the date, causing numerous problems. The biggest of which was the blahblahblah error, keeping the PS3 from being able to connect to the Playstation Network. This created a domino effect across other games, which required trophies to sync in order to run. Users who turned on their PS3’s and were greeted by this error, were equally as stunned to discover that they were also being treated to a slew of corrupted trophy data, save files and other oddities.

First off, Sony is not a villain in this situation, as this was a silly error that probably happened due to the forgetfulness of some poor employee. When compared to the Xbox 360 and its numerous hardware failures, Sony looks like the gold star of the classroom. The problem was how they handled the situation and the advice they offered their consumers. Telling your customers not to turn on their PS3’s is ridiculous, especially since they would not be online looking for a solution if they had not already done so. Also, most of the posts I saw in North America were directed at the United States audience, but this is a worldwide issue. It was not localized to one region and customers from many countries were probably left in the dark about what was going on. Holding their breath and hoping that this was not the end of their backwards compatible “fat’s” lifespan (I was one of them). I am sure Canadians everywhere were wondering where the support was. While engineers were being called in on a Sunday and someone soon realized that this issue would be resolved once March 2nd rolled around and the internal clock realized its mistake. Instead, of pretending like people were willing to stand by and act like nothing was wrong (which they weren’t reference solution), Sony should have been transparent about the situation and addressed the public with this knowledge, putting everyone’s mind at ease for the next 24 hours. If they were wrong, it at least doused the fire long enough for them to figure out a way to fix it, but if they were right, it potential ended a flame war hours earlier than what actually happened. Taking some action and keeping users from modifying their PS3s and causing more damage. I still love Sony and still support the brand, but I just felt they should have been more responsive to customer concerns, besides some press releases and twitter updates. Though, maybe I am still young and naïve. Whatever the case, everything is find now and my PS3 came back unscathed. Now I can finish Heavy Rain!

AOM - March

Craig Bruyn a professional Illustrator out of Australia. Love his black and white prints. Check more out here or in the slideshow to the right.

Play it NOW!: Bayonetta

The time where Japan dominated the economic landscape of gaming is fading fast, as more publishers are looking to the west for inspiration in design. Sega is one example of this, but their most recent release is not. Instead, Platinum Games and Sega proudly tout that there will always be Japanese developers and Japanese culture reflected in video games. If there is any game released in 2010 so far that supports this theory, it's Bayonetta. Set in a fictional universe where witches and angels do battle in a dimension parallel to our own, the most striking feature is it’s art style. Bayonetta, the baddest witch of them all, rocks a black skin tight outfit, made completely out of her own hair. Her hair is a key component of the combat, if only aesthetically. So as you complete higher combos and more devastating attacks, the less hair is left to cover her body. Yes, it is a very sexually charged game in a lot of ways, her consumable items are all lollipops and there are moments in game featuring some tongue in cheek humor and euphemisms, but it is not demeaning in my opinion. Bayonetta is a strong female character and one of her antagonists is as well.

Speaking of antagonists, these “angels” are complex in their design and style. Some resemble beaked warriors, others manta rays flying over head and still others are giants wearing the masks which make them resemble a child’s face. That is just some of the most common designs though, play through the whole game and you are sure to run into some creatures that twist the imagination.

There are environments that are equally as cool, taking place in a medieval town, castles, an airfield and eventually some various dimensions. Though this does not seem refreshing when you think of games past, they change the formula when the moon comes out to play. Since Bayonetta is a witch, she also has various powers. At certain points in the story, Bayonetta will have to utilize the power of the moon to platform across walls and ceilings, changing the perspective of your character and how you perceive the environment around her. Sure, some scenes could invite a wicked sense of vertigo, but that’s another thing to keep the gameplay fresh. Keeping with this philosophy, Bayonetta is also a shape shifter, which becomes useful later on when trying to overcome an obstacle or even become more flexible in combat.

Let’s quit all the bullshit and get right to it, the combat in this game is fantastic. First, no matter what your experience level, the difficulty is scalable to all types of gamers, so anyone can play and no one should feel lost. It uses an engine similar to Devil May Cry or Ninja Gaiden, punch/kick attacks are mixed based on the direction of the analog and the length of time a button is held. Though not in a conventional sense, since in your hands are two guns and on your feet are two guns. That’s right… on your feet! Do I have your attention yet? No, then how about two words, ICE SKATES. As you can imagine the combat and weapon variety gets crazy as your feet are independent from your hands and you can combine a variety of weapons for various enemies and situations. All these points are mute though without utilizing one more very important skill: Witch Time. Essentially bullet time in this games universe, Witch Time provides you the ability to really rack up the combos on weaker enemies, and leaves stronger enemies open for an attack where they may not be. It is triggered with a basic dodge, initiated at the last possible second. Getting in some massive combos and building up your magic bar will also a lot the user an opportunity to initiate a torture attack. These gruesome attacks are a one stop shop of death, typically consisting of an Iron Maiden or Guillotine. Suitable for the flair one should already expect from a game such as this. Combine the option of replaying with a new game plus, various difficulties, challenge rooms (called alfhiem portals), leaderboards and more moves/weapons; this game has an extremely high replay value, I highly recommend that if you enjoy action games, you should play it now.

Completed the game on Normal, obtained 405 of 1000 achievement points

*note: all images are the result of a Google image search

Sony's The Tester

Here is a unique way to deliver new content to the PSN, reality television. Granted, the genre tends to lean towards “lowest common denominator” type programming, but “The Tester”, to be produced by Sony and production company name may be interested in appealing to more than America’s love for overdramatic idiots mixed with copious amounts of alcohol, see Jersey Shore. Basically, a bunch of people get together to compete for a coveted job in the game industry as a QA Tester… wait, is that right? These people are actually competing for a position which requires a high school education and dishes out minimum wage across an average 60 hour work week? Yikes! Maybe I am overestimating the shows potential, but then again it’s free, related to gaming and an interesting marketing experience for PSN. Alright, I am in. Basically, I will watch it so you don’t have to and when the season closes, I will deliver a post mortem. Then you can always watch it after you read my impressions.

*note: image courtesy of http://www.thetester.com/

Blog Report

Bayonetta or Bioshock 2, tough choice for me this week. I am at the halfway point now in Bayonetta, but the idea of returning to Rapture is beginning to take hold. The intro to that game does a excellent job of setting up a more interesting story than I originally anticipated. We will see how that drives the rest of the story, but for now here is where the world's at.
Jokes About Video Games, Not For The Kids [Dice 2010]
XBLA Perfect Dark Multiplayer Features GoldenEye Weapons, Levels [Dice 2010]
Up Close With Metal Gear Arcade [Arcade]
Splinter Cell: Conviction Hands-On
Evony vs. Bruce: Deception, Deletion & Douchebaggery
Bobby Kotick, Warm and Fuzzy, Defends Notorious No-Fun Statements [Dice 2010]
Abandoned hospital - Haikyo
Snow and Lightning Get Urgent PSICOM Alerts [Final Fantasy XIII]
Sega Replacing Broken Alien Facehuggers [Broken TOys]
Alan Wake Preview: The First Full Episode [Preview]
PlayStation at NBA All-Star Weekend = Custom PSPgos, PS3 Games and More
It's Dangerous To Go Alone, Drink This [Screengrab]
Naughty Dog Helping Naughty Dogs [La]
Marvel vs Capcom vs...Disney's Lady Villains? [Screengrab]
Meet The Voices, And Faces, Behind Heavy Rain [PS3]
Thank Kingdom Hearts For Epic Mickey [Dice 2010]
Marvel vs. Capcom 2 50% Off…and a Comment Contest!
Atheists Will Take Care Of Your Pet After The Divine Rapture, For A Price [Earth-bound Pets]
Halo Legends DVD Review: Ring Around The Halo Universe [Movie Review]
Sonic Rated T (Use of Tobacco) [Screengrab]
The Past, Platforms And Future Of Final Fantasy XIII, Agito And Versus [Square Enix]
Rumor: Three New Characters Announced For Super Street Fighter IV [Street Fighter Iv]
Final Fantasy XIII Creators On The Influence of Call of Duty, Card Games & The Toyota Prius [Interview]
First Sonic The Hedgehog 4 Screens, Gameplay Videos Leak [Sega]
WHY I WANT TO MAKE FUN...

Across the Sea: Getting the "Black Box" Treatment

A new post where we take a look at how video game culture is changing overseas and what it means for North America.

Reading a recent Joystiq article here, has me re-thinking Nintendo's dedication to the Wii. For a number of third party developers, the Wii has not been the most successful platform for attracting hardcore gamers. Some games, despite their overall quality and appeal, have been unable to find a market for themselves on the Wii. This is an issue that is being addressed in a number of ways, with a few developers stating they might pull out of the market altogether.

Nintendo is responding to this issue in Japan, by making a second redesign to their game cases (if you remember, New Super Mario Brothers Wii was the first, implementing a red case and selling millions). Now, through a new program, all games designated Mature for the Wii will be released in a black case. I hope that it works and makes those games, like New Super Mario Brothers Wii, gain more attention when a consumer looks up at a wall of white mini game collections. If you look at the weekly sales trends for the best Mature Wii games available (in my humble opinion: Dead Space Extraction, House of the Dead: Overkill and MadWorld) here, you can see why a serious changed needs to take place. It is difficult to imagine why any developer would put as much money into a game like Dead Space Extraction and see so little on return, to continue doing so. And this is hard for the Wii, who has struggled appealing to its core followers. If Nintendo Japan begins to see a change in the number of mature titles being sold, directly correlating, the certainly should consider bringing it to the U.S. Think about No More Heroes 2, who after 3 weeks of sale has only managed to sell a whopping 70,000 in North America.

*note: image courtesy of google image search

Marketing 101: THQ Rewards its Customers

When I first heard about the redemption program regarding NEW copies of Darksiders, I was ecstatic. But to my dismay, my version of the game did not have a mystery code. Then, when the news broke that you could also mail in your receipt, I immediately went home to search. But again came up empty. So, I remembered when I had bought the game and where I had bought it. It was on 01/15/2010, sometime after 930 pm, at a Walmart. Normally I would have gone to a Best Buy, but since those were closed and it was a spur of the moment, “I need to play this game” situation, Walmart was it.

So, I went back to that same Walmart’s customer service department, to see if they could re-print the original receipt. And they could! But to my disappointment, they could only print to some crappy dot matrix printer!

And so went my plea to have THQ honor this crappy receipt from Walmart and take advantage of their latest promotion. Originally put into place to reward pre-orders, each Darksiders game that went out in the first run had a mystery code placed inside the case, which looked like this:

And what should you have expected to receive for this mystery code??? How about a free game and not just any game, an AWESOME GAME! Taken straight from Darksiders community site, you will receive: 

•A digital Hellbook disc featuring Darksiders art, videos, and other awesome stuff! 

•A free copy of Red Faction: Guerrilla, a third person shooter featuring fully destructible environments... on Mars!

 I really want to go back to Mars in Red Faction and I could always borrow a copy from one of the numerous friends I gifted this to over Christmas (yeah, I really dug this game in 09), but to justify my inability to control my addiction and making the spur of the moment decision (my girlfriend and I shared) to by Darksiders could turn out to be the best way to start 2010. So with the letter, form, UPC and crappy receipt on there way to THQ, I will have to be patient....

*note image courtesy of Darksiders Community Site

Blog Report

Aha! I have solved all the mysteries of the universe now that Darksiders is complete... J/K. The game was great, but not founded in any sense of reality. Anyway, it is time to start the second play through of Mass Effect 2 and I guess I could go play some Bayonetta. In the mean time, LINKS!

NoR18Games Website Launched
Jedi Flash Mob Liberates Mall From The (British) Empire [Star Wars]
Street Fighter IV Brings The Fight To The iPhone [IPhone]
Microsoft To Unveil Xbox Live Mobile Today [Xbox Live]
Why the Game is the Thing, Even for Uncharted 2 [Weekend Reader]
Love In Hell: Dante's Inferno's Take on Romance [Well Played]
Invading The Game Room
Microsoft: This Will be the Biggest Year In The History of Xbox [X10]
Original Survivors Get Chatty In Left 4 Dead 2's The Passing [X10]
Your First Look At Fable III In Action [Clips]
Some Dead Rising 2 Gameplay [Clips]
Activision Shutters Guitar Hero Creators, GH: Van Halen Developers [Rumor]
What Colorblind Hackers See In BioShock 2 [Bioshock 2]
New Crackdown 2 Screens Show Off Shiny Preorder Armor [X10]
Star Trek Online Couldn't Resist The Borg [Gallery]
Blonde Dragon Age: Awakening Companions Don't Have More Fun [Bioware]
What Games Could Be Shooters? [Arcade]
Final Fantasy XIII Gets Title Sponsorship of NBA All-Star Event [Final Fantasy XIII]
Rent-By-Mail Service GameFly Files For IPO
The Emotion, And Humor, Of Mass Effect 2's Romantic Interludes [Me2]
Sunday Comics [Webcomics]
Survey: Game Devs Walking Away From Wii, Warming Up To iPhone [Nintendo]
EA's Road Rash Reboot, Oliver Twist Game Could Have Looked Like This [Electronic Arts]
I Will Now Attempt To Explain A Battle System [Battle Systems]
Finding The Art In Video Games [The Art History Of Games]
Patrick Stewart Is Afraid To Open His Video Games [Clips]

Play it NOW!: Darksiders

With the world of man falling to the war between heaven and hell, one mythical being is sent to pick up the pieces. So goes the story of War, one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, who in this universe is the protagonist on our journey. Initial previews for this game did not go over well with the enthusiast press, most impressions coming off luke warm. But after a couple hours, I felt it was pretty clear THQ was on to something with the way it builds an interesting world in which the user is tested in both dexterity and creativity. Difficult to not mention its obvious homage to such hit franchises like Zelda, Devil May Cry and even Portal; Darksiders balances numerous gameplay mechanics across a 12 hour story arc and numerous dungeons. Your guide, a wise-cracking Mark Hamill, provides advice as you traverse these locales, slaying demons and angels alike.

Combat is similar to most third person action titles, making use of a few weapon types and their various moves. Weapons may also be augmented to have different effects, and melee weapons also have a leveling system. One thing Vigil, the developer, may want to consider in future installments, weapon balance. Your sword being mapped to a face button and other weapons sharing a second face button caused me to use the alternate melee attacks less than I probably should have. The sword is just far too effective to bother with the other options. Weapons also play a part in puzzle solving, using a large shuriken to light objects on fire, or activate distant buttons, it certainly has that nostalgic feel. Throw in various blocking moving; switch flipping and environment traversal and you have a full fledged puzzle adventure. There were moments when I scratched my head until the light-bulb flickered on, but overall I found the puzzles had just the right amount of learning curve. To touch on combat just a bit more, there is also a magic system which can be upgraded. This utilizes "wrath" (mana) and there are four main spells which are upgradeable. The wrath, like your health is also expandable through collectables. The game contains lots of collectables actually, including the wrath and life cores, you also have artifacts, abyssal armor pieces, and souls, which are in game currency. Managed through an inventory system and store front, it seemed that augmenting weapons (to get more souls) would be the only way to get everything. And even then, the disparation between maxing out my character and the number of souls I needed seemed insurmountable. Though I did play the game on casual for time reasons, which this would decrease the enemy count (decreasing souls awarded).

As you go from dungeon to dungeon, fighting bosses and collecting anything in sight, the story will take you through an interesting spin on some of these characters of myth. Despite a rather annoying turn of events before the end, I found the story and art direction a good fit for the feel of the game. Your horse being one of my favorite, Ruin is summoned straight from the ground, instead of through a silly whistle. Providing you for some cool actions moments, where War can leap off a cliff and summon Ruin mid-air, where he will cushion your fall and most times be running towards the destination. Overall, I was happy to have a game scratch that itch, while Nintendo contemplates how to bring Zelda into the next generation. THQ already stated in an earnings call, that we can expect to see a Darksiders 2 and I will be happy to play it. Therefore, you should go PLAY IT NOW!

*note images courtesy of Darksiders Community Site and Penny Arcade

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

Well my first play through of Mass Effect 2 is complete and satisfaction has set in. But I cannot sit by for too long, so I've started Bayonetta, I am currently completing Darksiders and will soon have a complete save from Mass Effect... so I can start my second play through. Here is what the world did last week.

Hello Kitty chainsaw
Want The Heavy Rain Demo Right Now? Here's How... [Top]
Microsoft: No More Original Xbox Games Over Xbox Live [Xbox]
Why There Hasn't Been A Truly Great Star Trek Game [Star Trek]
Better Scores: Musical Selections For Your Next Game Video [Clips]
The Games You Won't Sell, The Games You Can't Sell [News Analysis]
XBL Indie Games channel: the figs
Fallout: New Vegas Set For Fall Release [Clips]
3D Dot Game Heroes: Your One-Stop Shop for Natural Sword Enhancement
Mario & Sonic's Relationship Isn't Quite What It Used To Be [Clips]
Project Needlemouse Is... Sonic 4, Episode I [Breaking]
Sony: PS3 Sales Up, PSP Sales Down [Business]
Digital feelies
Latest Dante Stunt Buries ASCII Art In Our Source Code [Guerrilla Marketing]
Red Faction Guerrilla Sequel At E3 2010, Arrives By April '11 [Thq]
Silent Hill's Akira Yamaoka Finds New Home At Grasshopper Manufacture [Silent Hill]
THQ Cuts 60 Jobs As Rainbow, Juice Rebrand, Refocus On Digital
Patrick Stewart Is Afraid To Open His Video Games [Clips]
The Street Fighter IV That Could Have Been [Sfiv]
Will There Be A Last Guardian Announcement At E3 Or TGS? [PS3]
Dante’s Inferno “Go to Hell” Super Bowl Ad Rejected by CBS
Snuggle Up To New Screens Of The Last Guardian [PS3]
Walmart, Best Buy Close Down Trade-In Kiosks [Used Games]
The Replacements, Still Replaced in Video Games [Stick Jockey]

Site Update: Name Change

Just didn't think the name was synonymous the direction the blog was heading. This is now the home of "Two.Can Play", not "8-bit Vigilantes". The name may have changed, but the content should be the same, if not better. Let me know what you think in the comments.

Play it NOW!: Mass Effect 2

Mass Effect was Bioware's second attempt at a riveting space opera RPG, KOTOR being the first. It was a fantastic adventure, though not without it's own growing pains. On the second try, Bioware has outdone themselves by taking what the community said into consideration when refining the sequel. In doing so, Bioware has created in my opinion, the most accessible RPG of our generation. I say this with confidence, having played a large collection of both western and eastern RPGs.

The most immediate thing many veteran RPG players will notice is the lack of any formal inventory or loot mechanic. Instead, your characters inventory is managed in 3 ways: weapons - in which gaining a single weapon type makes that available to all characters who have the option of using the specified weapon type, armor - which only applies to your Avatar and is limited to only a few variations, piece mealed out to you, and upgrades - which increase all the different weapons, armor, and ship components using minerals. Everything else found in game when picked up is instantly converted into money. Some resource cashes can be found in various missions, but for the majority of upgrades, the user must engage in planet mining. This process can be very time consuming, but if it wasn't, I feel in many ways, that could break the economies of scale. Back to my previous reference to missions, which are another big change from conventional RPGs. Where XP and resources would normally be gained in any capacity in the open world, now they're found in "instance like" missions. So when you are not chatting up your crew or the citizens of various colonies, you may instead be completing a quest and must do so start to finish, before returning to the open world.

This lends itself very well to the combat element, because the missions are much more linear and less plagued with long walks to various destinations and mid mission diversions.

Combat has been much more streamlined, cover is much easier to use, powers are more accessible since they can be mapped to various buttons and where you shoot your opponent will affect the level of damage they receive. That's right, no more dice rolls, instead, heads and limbs will explode if shot correctly. Also, enemies seem much more differentiated from each other, so a vanguard is clearly different from an engineer and so on. When you get to the end of a mission, all your accomplishments are listed and all XP is tabulated based on the decisions you made. Like the previous installments, role playing conversations and making decisions is the central component, where the combat mechanic (though much improved) is secondary. There are numerous instances in conversation where some characters are down right hilarious and others where the cinematography of a conversation is borderline "movie quality". Your crew comprises the majority of these events, either during recruitment or loyalty missions, but some side conversations will also intrigue the user. Again, each character in your party has a recruitment & loyalty mission, combined with a couple story driven missions, this puts the main story component at about 20 - 30 missions, each of varying length. Other cities, anomaly's and e-mails will provide the rest of the secondary assignments, probably equal to another 100 side missions or so. Anomaly's in particular are a cool feature, relating to the mining resources mini game we discussed earlier. When mining, occasionally a probe will find more than resources and allow you to land on a planet. These missions are typically 10 minutes blurbs that daisy-chain into 3 or 4 more side missions and are a welcome departure from the monotony of mining. On to your alignment, where the choice of good or evil is not a black and white affair as it is in some games. Though, through your various missions and conversations, not only are you able to provide good/evil responses, but you can now interrupt with a good/evil action. I chose evil for my character and one of my favorite interruptions involved a Blue Suns Mercenary, a plate glass window and the top floor of an Asari skyscraper. You get the idea. Now the new side of this is how the choices effect appearance, in the spoilers section below, you will see what my character looked like as a level 3 renegade. Not the handsome Shepard we all remember. Now I have not imported my character from Mass Effect, so I cannot speak to that experience. But I will be doing so shortly and will play the game from the opposite alignment as before. Since every one's endings are so unique, click for the jump below, to see how my story ended and let me know how yours did in the comments.

*note: completed game as a level 22, Infiltrator, Full Renegade, 800/1015 achievement score

**note: all pictures are the result of google image searches