Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir just (appropriately) came out on Friday, the 13th on the 3DS. The "spiritual" successor to the Fatal Frame franchise, Spirit Camera reiterates on the original game's photography mechanic. The game takes advantage of the handheld's impressive 3D camera to create an augmented-reality horror experience.
Tecmo Koei's newest release looks to attempt to bring the horror off your TV and into the world around you. The game utilizes the 3DS's camera to project enemies and other ghostly threats directly in your environment in an attempt to fully immerse the player in your own personal nightmare world! Wonderful!
Does anyone know how to remove urine from electronics?
In all seriousness, the 3DS seems to be designed for a game like
this. Early in the DS's life cycle, a lot of games were just ports with a
gimmicky touch screen support, but in the later years developers began
to take full advantage of the system's strength to create some awesome
experiences. Tecmo Koei seems to be ahead of the curve here, in that
they designed a game around the hardware instead of trying to shoehorn
in a lazy port. This game definitely intrigues me, and I hope that more
developers take this route in designing games for handhelds.
Sandbox games are a mixed bag for me. The freedom in the actions that you have to choose from is fresh and exhilarating, but the missions that further the story and open up more options are a little too boring, blah and formulaic. There was never really any reason for me to trudge through the story. Grand Theft Auto is a perfect example of this.
An average playthrough of GTAIV consists of getting into pointless scuffles with the police, wasting ammo, almost dying, then finally getting to a destination where the missions are just... ok... and then starting it all over again.
Granted, I could mix it up by "going to see some teeeeeeeeties" with my cuuuuzzin, play darts, bowl, or even watch some television... but after that, I have to get to the story to open up more options.
Saints Row III showed me just how crazy that formula could be shaken up. Watching ads for previous installments, I always thought that the games were a little more focused on gangbangers. I'm really not interested in working the 'thug life'. You can do that again in Saints Row III, or...
you can just turn the game upside down and have an absolute blast!
The Story:
The Third Streets Saints are looking to expand. Deciding to take over the city of Steelport, however, was a poor business choice. The local gang, the Syndicate, doesnt appreciate the competition, and does a pretty good job of removing you as one. Its now your job to build up your empire from the beginning all over again. Simple premise that won't win any awards, but it does it's sandbox job. See, building up your empire is pretty much entirely up in the air. Do you want to steal a penthouse from one of your rivals? Thats great, lets parachute into their rooftop pool. Now you have a base of operations. The set up allows the creators to be a crazy as they want. This completely removes the monotony of the genre and all the problems that I ran into with similar games!
One of the early missions has you tearing through a sex-slave house, freeing hookers and trying to help a pimp named Zimos out of captivity as a... how do I put this delicately... pony cart worker that will... entertain you for "eighty an hour". This is a main story mission and one of the most tame in the game. They become more ridiculous as you go on. These are the missions that I was more than happy to play through to get to the rest of what SR III has to offer.
What else can you do exactly?
Well, you can just drive between missions a la GTAIV, you can fly a hoverjet, or you can hijack a moped and pimp it out (my particular favorite ride was an ATV with green under-glow and spikes that popped out of the tires). There are 500 stunt jumps hidden throughout the city, I saved up enough money to make my gang all wear hot dog costumes, threw 'fart in a jar' grenades to make my opponents puke, and then finished them off by beating them up with a giant dildo.
All of this, plus much more is way more satisfying to discover as you drive around the city of Steelport.
Side missions have their own flair to it as well, where you are slowly trying to take over the city by accomplishing tasks. Maybe you will commit insurance fraud by throwing yourself repeatedly in traffic. Sometimes you will take part in Professor Genki's Super Ethical Reality Climax, a murderous game show where you make 'ethical kills'. All activities give your gang clout, and more importantly, money.
The customization doesn't end with your gang and your rides. Your character can basically be whatever you want it to be. I ran through my first play through as zombie Hitler. Yup. With green scarred skin, blue eyes, and even a zombie voice to accompany it. There are chrome skins available, hooker outfits, mascot faces, even a giant toilet form if you wish.
So the answer to that question earlier really is: anything you want. You can do anything.
So what could possibly be bad about a game such as this?
Once you get to fly one of these babies, you will never need
another car. Ever.
If you are savvy about what to buy in what order, say, saving pennies until you can buy the highest earning properties first, and then whittling down the rest of Steelport with your vast riches, you can easily earn a hefty sum of money. With this money, you can buy upgrades to your character, eventually enabling it to withstand any damage at all. The game almost breaks itself with its 'do what you want to' attitude. This may be late in the game, but knowing that you will become so powerful the game becomes less fun.
The difficulty curve is a bit extreme as well. The game starts out OK with the first mission, making sure you are well equipped and ready, but when you are taken down a peg, the difficulty spikes. You really do feel like you've lost everything, and it takes a few missions to get back on your feet. This all goes away though, once you do.
This game is immensely fun. The characters, story, and game play provide such a unique blend. After sinking hours into it, I can honestly say it's an experience that I've never had with any other game. I can't recommend Saints Row the Third more. This is definitely a buy and one that just can't be passed up.
Just this week ATLUS announced that Demon Souls (the game that catapulted their name from just "the guys who published Persona" to a full fledged, awesome game publisher) will be closing it's PS3 online doors.
Created by From Software, the prequel to Dark Souls, Demon's Souls is a game that denied classical genre classification. A brilliant game that had aspects of RPG character creation, strategy game planning, action game reflexes, and old school gaming difficulty. I mean, really old school. The game is so difficult I had to stop myself from throwing my controller on numerous occasions. One thing that really kept me going though, were the interactions I got from fellow players.
Nothing felt cooler than non-verbally celebrating a tough battle together.
The game was excellent at making the player feel alone. Very alone. You had to survive on wits, instinct, and a little smart planning if you wanted to keep playing. But, if you so chose, there were little messages written on the ground from players who had been there before you, and you could also see visions of the last breaths and actions of others before their inevitable deaths. These slight interactions with others not only showed you that others were playing and having the same difficulties you were, but also showed you that others were dying all around you. Occasionally you could be visited by other players (some to help you, some to hunt you down), but these were only brief non-chatting interactions. In the end, when you have to remember where all the traps were and how to take down that monstrous boss, you were alone.
Well, players of the game should really start getting used to that feeling. Since being released in October of 2009 the game's PS3 online servers will go offline for good on May 31st, at midnight. This does not kill the game, and you can still enjoy it. Just not to it's fullest extent. The game will get punishingly hard for those who need the help from the messages on the ground and ghost glimpses, but I'm sure that you will be able to find solace from those on the internet.
So why did this have to happen? Well, ATLUS is not a giant publisher akin to the likes of Activision or EA. Hosting a server that houses hundreds of thousands of daily interactions is not cheap. The answer is simply this: They ran out of money to host it. Coming directly from the press release:
"It was also of the utmost importance for us to sustain
the game's online experience as long as possible, even beyond the point at
which sales could help to offset the expense. Regrettably, the online
servers cannot be sustained forever and now the end draws near."
With a sequel that they are focusing on, Dark Souls, and other game desires, they couldn't keep it open any longer. There are petitions open and demands for a kickstarter to be, ahem, started, but I doubt that these will work. In December of 2010 the admins of ATLUS' forums were talking about how overjoyed they were that they could afford an extension of the life of their servers for the game, a mere year after the game was released. So can someone else help out? I doubt that other publishers will be willing to fund the bill for one of their competitors. Maybe someone that directly benefited from the game's release? Maybe Sony, the home of the exclusive title? Well, after the recent news thatSony has revised their loss projections to make out for a $6.4 billion dollar loss, I really don't think that they can foot that bill either.
'Sorry Demon's Souls fans, we're kinda in a hole here too!'
So what can you as a player do? Enjoy the product to it's fullest while you can, and continue to show support for ATLUS to make them a bigger company. It was their creative genius that brought us the game, lets show them that we love them for it. Buy their other games new, be active on their game's forums, and support them. You have till midnight on May 31st to get your slaying on, get to it!
"It has been a tremendous honor and privilege for
all of our staff at ATLUS to have been involved with so innovative and
groundbreaking an interactive entertainment experience. We poured our
heart and soul into every facet of our involvement with Demon's Souls..."
-ATLUS Development Team (taken from official press release)
Today Square Enix's European division released more information about the open-world police title, Sleeping Dogs, while also serving up some pretty interesting screen shots. This title will also be released along side a "limited edition" of the game. The information below reflects the UK version of the game. The limited edition contains the following according the the Square Enix press release...
‘George St. Pierre (GSP)’ content: · GSP’s signature “flying punch” · Exclusive GSP outfit including T-shirts, headband and shorts · The GSP outfit unlocks the “flying punch” and increases grappling and throwing damage ‘Police Protection’ content: · Exclusive “High Speed” Mission · Exclusive HK Police SWAT Outfit · Exclusive assault rifle · Exclusive SWAT Police Vehicle
At this point we are not quite sure what George St.Pierre's involvement in the game will be, but feel free to take a look at some of the screens courtesy of Square Enix and Gamespress.com. Sleeping Dogs will be avalible state side August 14th Feel like it's just going to be GTA from the other side of the law? Let us know in the comments!
It seems like one of the hot new trends in games these days the tendency to make sequel installments an annual affair. I lose track of all the sequels that are churned out of the fun factory every holiday season, and one can quickly become cynical in regards to glut of incremental sequels every year. So, let's do an autopsy on a few examples of franchises (alive and dead) with annual installations, and see what we can learn.
Case One: Guitar Hero
There's no arguing that the influence Guitar Hero was a very important event in this cycle of consoles. What started out as a novel party game where the player pretended to be good at music became a shambling corpse of its former glory with each new iteration. Not counting the mobile versions of the game, between 2005 and 2010 there were twelve installments in the main series of the game.
Open your eyes! You're not even on the buttons!
Naturally, people got fatigued of drinking the stale milk from one of Activision's many cash cows, and eventually critical opinion and sales numbers began to favor the fledgling Rock Band series, until people stopped caring about plastic instruments almost altogether. So what spelled the death knell for the most successful rhythm-action games ever?
In my interpretation of events, the reason that people started to drift over to Rock Band was because of Guitar Hero's failure to innovate. Rock Band brought a unique social element to the rhythm-action genre that Guitar Hero could never quite catch up to. No matter how many technically demanding, face-melting, steel-shredding guitar solos the game could muster up, Rock Band would eventually prevail as the leader in the Great Plastic Instruments Race for one reason: playing with toy instruments is a lot more entertaining in a group setting than trying to memorize the intro to Cliffs of Dover on a Fisher-Price toy in solitude and sadness.
Case Two: Call of Duty
Don't get me wrong: Call of Duty games are fun. They are the best approximation to a Hollywood blockbuster thrill-ride that video games can accomplish. They have big, dumb characters, big, dumb cinematic setpieces, and big, dumb guns and explosions. And at the end of the day, like any Transformers or superhero movie, it's all about turning off your brain for a few hours and having fun by watching gratuitous amounts of violence.
AGH GOD MORE JELLY
So why all the hate? Again, like Guitar Hero, it all comes down to the fact that there isn't enough innovation to keep many hardcore gamers satisfied. I played Modern Warfare and thoroughly enjoyed it. I also played World of Warcraft for two years and enjoyed it. But will I ever go back to them?
In a word, no. I played both games to death, and while I enjoyed my experiences with them, I played them to death. From what I see, new iterations on Activision's swollen, gushing cash cow aren't different enough from one another to generate interest to me and many others. The series enjoys incredible sales numbers to be sure, but it comes from the same people that only buy the yearly installments of Madden and Call of Duty every year.
But this doesn't explain the extreme backlash that the series feels. There are plenty of franchises that iterate on an annual basis, like every Madden, FIFA or MLB. So why do gamers erect the Modern Warfare games as their lightning rod of hate?
Because it's popular, of course. You can't escape the marketing assault that surrounds each game. It's everywhere from your Mountain Dew bottles, to your TV commercials, and to your YouTube ads. Call of Duty's success and criticisms both come from the prevalence of advertisements that are experienced around the games, rather than the merits of the game's quality (or lack thereof).
Case Three: Assassin's Creed
Assassin's Creed has been an annual series since 2009, and has garnered equal amounts of praise and criticism for doing so. On one hand, people soon get fatigued from Ubisoft's largest revenue generator. In contrast, many gamers (including myself) look forward to every year's chapter in the epic conspiracy story that Ubisoft has created.
Pictured: History
The reason Assassin's Creed holds a special place in my heart is because of its originality. The setting uses times and places no other games come near to exploring, and the gameplay combines an open-world philosophy to conventional stealth, action, and platforming.
If this was all the games offered, however, they would not scratch the itch of the gaming community. They blend the emergent gameplay opportunities with a story arc that spans centuries and pulls on strings that don't go unappreciated by history nerds like me.
Everything in world history is a complex conspiracy that traces its history back to Templars, Assassins, and aliens. Normally this kind of pseudoscientific drivel belongs on Ancient Aliens, but Ubisoft blends these themes with the interpersonal character stories that we associate with more often. In this way, Ubisoft makes me look forward to the annual installation in the series, rather than dread hearing about it every fall.
The Verdict
So, what have we learned? In my opinion, annual games need to do a few things to make me care about them. They need to iterate on the core gameplay each game, rather than let the games spiral into monotony and repetition. They need to make the different games easily recognizable from one another, and take risks with each franchise instead of rehashing the same tired story, skeletons, and gimmicks.
At the end of the day, if you are against these annual games, vote with your dollar and simply don't buy them. It's more productive than making petitions or complaining on message boards.
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I've already gone over the physical disc-based games that are coming out this summer, and even though they are few in number, they look high in quality. Downloadable fans rejoice! There are many games that will be clamoring for your harddrive space releasing this summer as well. XBLA, PSN and Wii-ware games have a special place in my gaming system. Small games that deliver a large experience while costing a meager sum. Simply put, I love them. Here are some highlights of this summer's byte-size goodies:
April 13th: Fez (XBLA)
A bizzare and captivating 2D/3D hybrid game, it has the old school look and feel of a platformer, mixed with dimension bending powers of a puzzler to give you... well, probably a headache until you get used to it. Check out the trailer for an idea of how this works, as its really hard to describe on paper without sounding like a crazy person...
April 17th: House of the Dead 4 (PSN) Have Playstation Move and dissapointed with the games out? Well, you've got one light-shooter gem coming your way. Yes, its a remake of the old arcade game, but for a rather sparse line up for Move, anyone with the add on for Playstation should have this one on their list.
April 18th: Trials Evolution (XBLA)
The first game was an amazing physics-based biking game that was met with rave critical reviews. Released in 2009, its been a while since my tires got some mud on 'em, and with multiplayer tracks to actually race one another (finally), this game will get my motor revvin' for sure!
April 25th: Bloodforge (XBLA)
Have a bad day? Want to eviscerate some poor saps who get in your way? Click on Bloodforge to start it up and feel the blood-rage leave your body by stabbing, slicing, dicing, and decapitating your way through a handful of levels built to test your action button combos. The real star of this game is the cinematic camera angles that give you some sweet views of the blood shed. Very cool. Almost too cool looking to believe its a downloadable game!
May 1st: Awesomenauts (PSN, XBLA)
An arena brawler that will take you back to arcade days, this game features 6 different characters, all with special abilities, that will rip and shred their way through waves and waves of enemies. All the characters are ridiculous, and the animation looks right at home for a downloadable title. Reminds me much of a certain Castle Crashers game, and I know I had too much fun with that game for it to be even legal. This one is for sure on my watch list, and my couch can't wait for my friends and I to sit on it again.
May 9th: Minecraft (XBLA)
I haven't dug into the craze that is Minecraft yet, but if you are on a computer that can do simple processing, you probably have run into a minecraft phase or two. If not, well you're in luck, as it's coming to Xbox360! Featuring all the same addictive elements that the PC one has, you now can share your creations with all of your Xbox Live friends, and even participate in some co-op online or split screen! That way, you can introduce your friends to this blockbuster and be there every step of the way to help them figure out what they are doing.
May 15th: Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Ep 2 (PSN, XBLA)
Sonic fans! Are you here?! Anywhere...? Oh here we are. Episode 2 for the fourth iteration of the series is finally releasing! Yes, I know, you hardcore fans had some issues with some things about episode 1, but you guys are very hard to please! Its been more than two years in development, so hopefully they took care of those issues! Guess we'll find out 5/15...
July: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD (PSN, XBLA)
Well, Tony Hawk must've heard some cries of pain from all of his Ride-based games. He's realizing the success that he had in video games came primarily from the amazingness that THPS 1 and 2 brought to the table, and therefore he's re-releasing them in HD for this summer. A mixture of levels taken from the first two games, as well as their soundtracks (!!!), but rebuilt from the ground up in modern engines, it looks promising that what wasn't broken, wont be "fixed".
Summer: Foosball 2012 (PSN)
Yup. This is not a joke. This is getting released. Supports Move too.
Really all I have to say about...
Ugh...
A videogame involving a literal foosball table...
Wanna hear more news about all of these great games (and one head scratcher)? Subscribe to us, Like us on facebook, and please do leave us some comments! We'd love to hear from you!
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?
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!
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.
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.
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.
There have been three major controversies in gaming since its inception. Everyone should be familiar with them as they are normally spurred by a controversial game that leads non-gamers to believe something that traditional gamers must either attack or defend. Are video games art? Are video games too violent? And, is there too much "sex" in video games? These questions are circular dichotomies because they are based on opinions, so never ending in nature as it were. But I offer this, are boobs really that bad?
Don't hate us because we're beautiful...
There's 2 in Every Argument Sex in video games has had its fun much like co-eds during spring break. Games like DOA Xtreme Beach Volleyball, Leisure Suit Larry, The Guy Game, and BMX XXX show up every once in awhile and flash us some nips and wiggle their booties until we giggle like 12-year-olds in our uncles' skin bin. Some times these games pass us by as innocently as our memories of college while other times they result in controversies that make you wonder what the hell people are thinking, as in the famous Fox News fiasco with Mass Effect.
I find it amazing that with all the games that display gratuitous amounts of deplorable violence on a regular basis that skate through the cable news channels, one nipple bared during the Superbowl and congress gets involved. Is the female form really so dangerous to our nation's youth that we should abstain from the mere digital image of it? Is a pair of bountiful bouncing breasts more damaging to a male's mental function than the whole of drugs, crime, and violent decapitations?
Fox News didn't cover this
Pressed Against the Glass Video games, as with all art forms, are a reflection of reality. The making and breaking of worldly events inspire their creators in ways that help develop the medium that we cherish so dearly. Modern Warfare didn't create war as much as Grand Theft Auto created proliferating with prostitutes. Blaming games as a mischief training ground is like yelling into a mirror and blaming the image with a total disconnect of the refection within.
I can understand some of the arguments about objectifying women as sex objects and find my self laughing at the lingerie that passes for heavy plate armor in some games. But allow me to be offended that anyone who would assume any male (let alone myself) would be shallow enough to treat all women like sex objects to be used and discarded simply because of a few hours spent with a video game. We cannot help the chemical reactions in our brains that turn us into babbling idiots when we see an attractive image of a woman. Furthermore, most men have mothers, sisters, daughters, ect. and we are fully capable of understanding that they are respectable females and are in no way sexual objects. Just because I find something beautiful, doesn't mean I want to treat it poorly and definitely have sex with it. That would make trips to the arboretum very uncomfortable and itchy.
In the Russian Version she actually gets naked.
The Call of Boobie So as the bridge across the uncanny valley nears completion, the realism of our digital entertainment will reach the point where the dreams of designers and visionaries will soon shine into our retinas. Those moral crusaders who hold tightly to their beliefs will surely cry out loud against everything from violence to drugs, and crime to nipples.
The only thing we can do as gamers is to hold our ground with intelligent arguments to the contrary and put our money where we believe it to go. I personally not only buy new games to support developers, but ones that stand with my principles as well. When NFL 2K 5 released at $20 I was all over it. Not only because it still stands as one of the best football games ever made, but I wanted to encourage yearly releases to be 20 bucks. I did not purchase Manhunt new because I don't believe violence to be a selling point. And you can bet dollars to doughnuts I will always buy a game that has cheeky sexual themed fun just because this world needs more of it desperately. I will end my argument with a simple question: If you were walking down a beach on vacation with your family, what would be more harmful to witness? A beautiful woman tanning her naked breasts or a helpless captive being decapitated? Think about it...
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Saints Row III showed me just how crazy that formula could be shaken up. Watching ads for previous installments, I always thought that the games were a little more focused on gangbangers. I'm really not interested in working the 'thug life'. You can do that again in Saints Row III, or...
This completely removes the monotony of the genre and all the problems that I ran into with similar games!
Just this week ATLUS announced that Demon Souls (the game that catapulted their name from just "the guys who published Persona" to a full fledged, awesome game publisher) will be closing it's PS3 online doors.
Well, players of the game should really start getting used to that feeling. Since being released in October of 2009 the game's PS3 online servers will go offline for good on May 31st, at midnight. This does not kill the game, and you can still enjoy it. Just not to it's fullest extent. The game will get punishingly hard for those who need the help from the messages on the ground and ghost glimpses, but I'm sure that you will be able to find solace from those on the internet.
Today Square Enix's European division released more information about the open-world police title, Sleeping Dogs, while also serving up some pretty interesting screen shots. This title will also be released along side a "limited edition" of the game. The information below reflects the UK version of the game. The limited edition contains the following according the the Square Enix press release...
At this point we are not quite sure what George St.Pierre's involvement in the game will be, but feel free to take a look at some of the screens courtesy of Square Enix and Gamespress.com. Sleeping Dogs will be avalible state side August 14th Feel like it's just going to be GTA from the other side of the law? Let us know in the comments!
Have Playstation Move and dissapointed with the games out? Well, you've got one light-shooter gem coming your way. Yes, its a remake of the old arcade game, but for a rather sparse line up for Move, anyone with the add on for Playstation should have this one on their list.
April 27th: Prototype 2 (PS3, X360)
June 1st: Lego Batman 2: DC Superheroes (Pretty much every system out now)
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!
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.
