Summer Hits: Disc-Based Edition

Ah, the summer.  The months most looked forward to by students, teachers, swimmers, beach goers, gamers...

This is normal summer gaming, right?
Oh you mean I actually should go outside?
Nahhhh.

Well, not necessarily gamers.  While it'll be nice to be able to play games with my windows open again, the summer always brings with it a drought of quality games.  What should you be waiting for anxiously?  I'm going to break it down for you, and show you just what you have to look forward to, as all hope should not be lost!


April 17th:  Witcher 2: Assassination of Kings (X360)

Oh, did I mention that the game is absolutely gorgeous? 

Finally console gamers are starting to get some love on the Witcher 2 front.  The game released on pc in May of 2011 to excellent reviews across the board, and is being ported to the Xbox360 April 17th.  With a massive story such as this based on the best selling book series of the same name, this should keep your controller hands happy for a decent chunk of this game-dry summer!

April 27th:  Prototype 2 (PS3, X360)
The first one was fun for a little while, offering grueling and violent action in a sandbox world with some very cool and creative powers.  I loved turning on the game, dropping into a random zone, and just mashing my powers against every person who crossed me.  Come April 27th, we get to do it again, but with a much bigger goal in mind: Kill Alex Mercer, the man you played as in Prototype 1.  High order.  Hopefully with some even cooler moves and a hopefully better story than the first one... we'll be able to accomplish that!

May 15th: Diablo III (PC)
To those who say that the summer gaming drought will leave you without any games, you must not have a PC.  With Diablo III coming out this summer, you won't even NEED any more games.  I partly think that the reason why it took so long for the third entry in the series to come out is because Blizzard was waiting for people to stop playing Diablo II, and it took so long that they said, "eh screw it" and finally started development on three.  With five classes, PvP added further down the line, and even an auction house to get real money for the items you find, I might be upgrading my PC before this is released.  Loot away!

From left to right, we have the Wizard, the Witch Doctor, the Demon Hunter, the Barbarian,
and my personal favorite, the Monk.

 May 15th: Max Payne 3 (PS3, X360)
Every summer there's a Rockstar game announced, my hands twitch with excitement.  Known for making blockbuster games that have a great deal of thought and effort put behind them with an excellent (if controversial) development team, Max Payne 3 should be on everyone's radar.  Granted, its the next game in a series that almost defines cult following, but the game is shaping up to what looks like an excellent product. Using the Euphoria physics engine on a Bullet-time riddled game, with solid diving and shooting mechanics, plus it looks this pretty...

Shut up and take my money!

May 22nd: Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier (PS3, X360)

How do you reinvigorate a slowing genre like the military shooter?  Simple.  Innovate in what the player has available to them.  With active camo, magnetic see-through-walls imaging, drones, target-locking bullets, sensor grenades and more, GR:FS looks to be gunning for the top shooter spot (groan).  Regardless of the bad puns, this shooter has my attention with it's focus on tech and the attention to detail the Ubisoft team has when doing their research.  We'll see if it translates well into the finished product.







June 1st: Lego Batman 2: DC Superheroes (Pretty much every system out now)
I will not hide anything:  I love the Lego games.  They are accessible enough that any little kid that I am entertaining for can play them, everyone and their mothers (literally) knows what legos are, and Batman is awesome.  How can this game be even more awesome than the first?
How about adding all of the Justice League in there?  If you were a child within the last twenty years and had legos, how crazy would you go to have lego superheroes? Yeah.  At the very least rent this game, but I see many replays ahead with each character!




June 5th: Inversion (PS3, X360)
Even I'll admit, I'm a bit skeptical about this one, as I've been dissapointed by interesting-sounding shooters before (*cough*FRACTURE*cough*), but one where gravity is a weapon?  Hiding behind cover, blasting your enemies sounding boring?  Flip the battlefield with a grenade, so you're now fighting on the side of a building. Inside?  I hope you're checking the ceiling for enemies! It sounds interesting enough for me to put this on the list.  Not convinced yet?  Check out the trailer.  Its an old look at it, but nonetheless interesting.






June 12th: Lollipop Chainsaw (PS3, X360)
Its no secret that I like Suda51.  While I talked highly about  Shadows of the Damned in a previous article, I'm hoping Lollipop Chainsaw will garner a bit more attention from fans.  With a killer soundtrack (get it? Groan again) at your back, you play a high school cheerleader named Juliet whose school has just been overrun by zombies. So using your cheerleading moves while wielding a chainsaw and throwing your decapitated boyfriend's head around sounds like the next move. Right?  ...Right?  Anyone?





June 22nd: Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor (X360)

MECH GAMES.  I wish that statement could be more exciting.  What doesn't sound awesome about a mech game?  It really hasn't been done right in a while.  I'm hoping that the new Steel Battalion changes that trend.  It does give kinect owners reason to be happy though, it's one of the few newer games that will be using the technology that everyone bought... and got bored of with.  Regardless... MECH GAME!  The video on the left shows how those Kinect controls will be implemented. With motion controls to change aspects about your tank like your speed, loading and so forth, it could offer that level of immersion that they are missing?  Lets hope!

June 26th: Darksiders II (PS3, X360)
It's Death's turn to have his time in the spotlight!  The series that focuses on the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse returns to have Death exact his vengeance on those who falsely accused his brother War of starting the apocalypse early, with no mercy in sight.  Using the same tactics that they employed when making the original, Virgil studios are making this one even more brutal with death's signature scythe and resurrection moves while still retaining the over the top gore and combos of the first.  I can't wait to embody death's crazy almost faceless form this June.

June 26th: Spec Ops: The Line (PS3, X360)
Alright, yes. Its yet another shooter.  And it might be the ninth game in the rather paint-by-numbers Spec Ops series.  But here's why you should pay attention:  Its been ten years since the last game was released back in 2002. The game has a brand new story that requires no previous knowledge of the other games.  And, for the first time in the series, the game is taking place a little further into the future, in Dubai.  For those who are not geography majors, Dubai is an almost untouched location in gaming, where the rich and famous go on vacation.  The United Arab Emirates locale, in the game, has just undergone a series of natural disasters that leave the whole city, once beautiful and bountiful, a wasteland, being picked apart by scavengers stupid enough to brave the constantly collapsing wreckage. Using your environment as a weapon is key here, with sandstorms and dilapidated buildings to order your squad to kill outlaws and save a fellow commander stationed there.  Check out why I'm excited:

And you know what's even BETTER!?
Hearing about all of these games on +10 Damage Gaming!  Like our Facebook, subscribe, and leave us some comments!  What are you looking forward to this summer?

Playstation... Orbis?

Coming out of the rumor mill recently is the Playstation 4.  What rumors is the mill churning out?  What does everyone want to know?  Well, first off, the name Orbis is being passed around all over.  Does it play all of my old PS3 games?  I sure have created a solid collection! And, most importantly, with the used game market coming under fire as of late, will Sony try to block the games you buy from friends and second hand stores instead of the developers?  Let's take a look at these individually.


Will it continue to be called the Orbis?  For now.
Try going to orbis.scedev.net/.  Brings you to a developer's site for Sony products.  Same thing with vita.scedev.net.  Or even ngp.scedev.net. All of them work!  Orbis is a code name for something that Sony is working on.  And these signs point towards another system.  It should be in development already, given that all of their competitors are already working on new systems as well, and Sony is not one to be left out of a technology race.  

Well I severely doubt that.

What about backwards compatibility?
I severely doubt that this could continue to be an option at this point.  While I would love to be able to play my PS3 games on a new system, Sony is recognizing the profits gained from re-releasing HD collections of beloved games, and if upping the quality of the system's technology is the aim here, Sony could be sitting on a cash cow by "hyperHDifying" (I just made that up.) their franchises like Uncharted and Killzone.  
Point is: I view backwards compatibility to be a slim chance.  Sony wants their customers (and their profits) to keep moving forward. 


Will the PSOrbis block used games?
The current rumor about used games on the Orbis is simply this:  That a game purchased for the system in physical form (aka NOT downloaded, but on a disc potentially) will be tied to a specific PSN name.  This means that anyone that wants to play it that is not your PSN name will have access to only limited features, if any at all. If you want to play one that is tied to someone else's name, you must 'unlock' the game by paying a fee. This also means: No used purchases, no borrowing it/trading it from a friend, no renting the game.


It seems that analysts are rife with opinions about the used games problem.  Industry analyst Michael Patchter recently opinionated to Gamesindustry.biz that killing off the used games market would be a bad idea for both Sony and Microsoft.  This would harm beneficial relationships that Sony has always had with Gamestop and basically seperate them from the entire market, as why would a used games store carry a system that does not support used games.  If Gamestop didn't carry Sony's Orbit (or whatever its going to be called), then that would be a huge step back for Sony in the "games arms race".  

"You would miss me, right?"

Another industry analyst reporter from Gamesindustry.biz, James Brightman, agrees that blocking used games sales in any way, shape, or form would ultimately give gamers more of a swing to go elsewhere: such as Microsoft or even Nintendo. 

"If Sony moves forward with this rumored plan, it'll be a huge black eye for the company from the consumer perspective. Quite simply, Sony would be taking away consumer choice, and that's never a good thing."

I know I don't have sixty bones to drop on every new game that comes out, and buying used gives me a money saving choice.  My friends and I trade games all the time, and with my personal working experience at Blockbuster, I have three solid reasons why blocking used games would hurt me.  
So will it happen?  I know companies like Activision and EA would love it to, but big companies like Gamestop would not love it so much.  I'd say the odds are just slightly more in not banning them, but only because the customer is always right.  Not the developers.
More news will be reported on the Orbis/PS4 when it appears!

Evil?  Or money-savers? What do you think?

What do you think?  Is it smart to block used games?  Or should Playstation listen a bit more to their consumers and ixnay on the anningsbay?  Let us know by subscribing and posting in our comments! I would love to hear from you!


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The Problems With Shooters

     A common complaint I hear about detractors of the FPS genre is that "they're all the same", or "they are all gray and brown", or "the only way I get hurt is when jelly gets splattered on my screen!" In my opinion, these aren't necessarily valid arguments, but I believe that they are indicative of the general fatigue that surrounds this genre.

Sponsored by Smuckers

     Unfortunately, there are plenty of shooters that break these stereotypes that just get buried underneath the dross that we have come to expect from the annual Call of Duty releases. These are games that do something absolutely new and different with the genre, but will never be as successful as a Halo or Gears of War. I thought I'd outline a few examples of some older games that break the mold of the generic shooter, and I hope that in the future we will see more games that are as pleasantly surprising as these titles are. So please, game developers, steal some ideas from these games.

Borderlands: Loot

     Certainly one of the more original titles to emerge from 2009's holiday rush, Borderlands expertly blended a Diablo-esque loot system normally found in action RPGs with a solid foundation in shooter action. Headshotting a midget and watching his skeleton dissolve in acid while blue and green shiny guns fly out of his torso is an endlessly entertainingly experience.

BLAMO!

     Although the randomly-generated weapons the game rewards as loot can affect a character's stats in a variety of ways, it never removes the player's skill as a factor. When you shoot an enemy in Borderlands, there are no secret dice rolls behind the game's screen. If you have the skill to headshot an enemy, you will deal more damage. It's this blend of skill-based gameplay and RPG elements that puts Borderlands in a special place in my heart.
     Combined with a killer co-op experience and an over-the-top, dark sense of humor, (and the promise of a sequel), Borderlands created a new hybrid of game genres that has yet to be exceeded.

Borderlands on Amazon!

Shattered Horizon: Three-Dimensional Combat

     Another indie game that was lost in the dump truck of releases in fall 2009, Shattered Horizon took the tired concept of a sci-fi first-person shooter and turned it on its head.

Literally

     A PC-exclusive shooter, Shattered Horizon's main selling point was its zero-gravity combat. Armed with only a rifle and a thruster pack, all of the battles are fought in the vacuum of outer space where an enemy could be coming from the left, right, or even above or beneath you at any time. Taking cover means that you have to ensure your safety from three dimensions. I have played many a match where I thought I was safe in my hidey hole, only to realize there was a bad guy approaching me upside-down from a hallway that I perceived as a ceiling.

     The only problem that the game has is its learning curve. It takes a few matches to get used to controlling yourself in three dimensions as you learn to strafe and yaw yourself onto target, but the reward is well worth it. This is a concept that I really wish a major developer would invest in. Shattered Horizon is multiplayer-only game, unfortunately, but if a triple-A developer or publisher could throw some money at this inventive idea, very good things could come out of it.

Mirror's Edge: Color and Movement

     At first glance, Mirror's Edge is a visually stunning game. The art aspect of this game is nuanced enough that I could write entire articles about it, but I'll keep it short for now. The game uses bright, hyper-realistic primary colors to draw interest to certain objects and areas, something that most artists know how to do instinctively.

     The unique high-contrast color scheme allows the developers to naturally draw the player's eye to certain areas of the busy industrially-themed environment in a way that seems intuitive. You can make your way through the environments without even thinking about where you are going, just how you are going to get there.
     Getting to your destination in Mirror's Edge is the core of the game experience. Vaulting, rolling, leaping, and wall-running from point A to point B are some of the most fulfilling experiences I've had in a game this generation. The fluidity of motion and the gut-wrenching acrobatic feats that Faith performs make sprinting from one kill to another in Call of Duty pale in comparison.

Loogie time

Mirror's Edge on Amazon!

     So there you go. Before you complain about the dearth of original content in first-person shooters, take a bit of time and go and explore some games that everybody forgot about. There is room for new ideas in the shooter space, and just because these games aren't on the best sellers list doesn't mean that they don't exist. So check these games out if you get the time or money, because they are sure to offer you experiences you can't find anywhere else.