So, E3 kicks off officially tomorrow and, with any luck, this year will be a good one, particularly for hardware, with Nintendo and Sony looking to show off some of their new funky hardware not to mention Microsoft no doubt having some good things for the core gamers on Kinect. Many gamers hard at work where ever they may be will be following along to the events that will unfold over the next couple days.
And they honestly should because as an event, it is as important to gamers as the G8 is to the planet Earth and The X Factor is to Simon Cowell. Sound like too much? Not so, as the future of games will be displayed to the world here and, as long as most of use are paying attention, we get to "vote" on that future with our cash.
E3 is so important to the industry globally, as is the Tokyo Games Show although that lacks the pizzaz and global prominence that only the LA show can provide. It's not just an event to gamers but something to hang their hats on and unite around.
So much of the industry is deeply involved with in fighting, with publishers, developers and console manufacturers alike always looking for the various "killers" in their field and although that sense of warfare is magnified at E3, it's perhaps a rare chance for loyalists to take but a passing glance of how the other half are going to be enjoying their hobby in the future.
More to the point, E3 acts an icon to all gamers. We have so few "superstar" developers in the industry and those names that we do have are strongly affliated with one side as opposed to another. Nintendo have Miyamoto, Microsoft have Peter Molyenux and Sony, well, I guess they have Kevin Butler. Point being, it's hard to unite gamers all under one banner and that's what having the big show is: uniting all gamers and celebrating the future of the industry.
So, in those immortal words of Kevin Butler himself at last years show, we say, "Gaming, forever may he reign."
Monday, 6 June 2011
Wednesday, 25 May 2011
The LA Noire Verdict
Another day in LA, another grizzly murder. Called on to the scene with my partner, we step over the tape and talk to the corener to get his opinion. Leaning over the poor victim's body and examine it for any distinguishing marks and important clues as to motive. After searching the area for anything else that could provide me with additonal clues, I get to the business of interviewing the witnesses. With all this in hand, we head off to crack the case.
This is LA Noire and how every case starts off. And why shouldn't it, you would expect my local bobbies to kick off a case by covering all this details. You'll repeat this same start point about 20 times and for some reason, each crime scene still feels as fresh as the first one.
This is all because of LA Noire's greatest trick- detail. So, let's get the much lauded facial motion capture technology out of the way. To sum it up very quickly, it's beautifully detailed, you can . If an interviewee is holding something back, so long as you pay attention to their movements and quirks before and after you ask your questions, you'll root out the wrong 'uns . Perhaps if more games use this tech, it could be a defining feature of this generation, as is the case with third person cover mechanics.
But it's not just the faces that have detail. LA itself has been meticiously crafted, assembled and put together ala '40s style, as we often now expect with games these days, but it is always good to appreciate and admire the level of work and attention to detail the blocks and buildings have. Internal locations also have significant levels of details, particularly with the clues that you find in them
The story itself is pretty standard. You play with the role of Cole Phelps, former lieutant in the US Army and LAPD beat officer who becomes a detective for the force after showing great potential and promise. You go around solving cases and stopping crime quicker than Scooby Doo. Phelps usually has a partner with him who accompanies him on cases. They all have their own personalities and can be fun to talk to but never so much that you miss them when they are replaced by your next partner. Same situation with Phelps unfortunately, he's not particularly well developed as a character and some of the plot points involving him aren't conveyed well, particularly in the game's final third.
It's a good thing then that the cases themselves remain the focal point of the game as they are incredibly interesting and highly addictive. Picking from one of the four desks; Traffic, Homicide, Vice and Arson, you got across LA picking up clues and interviewing suspects. There's no QTE rubbish here, if you pick up a ledger to search for a name, your damn sure going to have to find it yourself.
Each desk has it's own micro-plot that spans across all the cases, linking them together. Homicide is by far the most involved as it deals with LA's infamous Black Dahlia murder but Traffic has some of the more interesting cases, tackling some of the tough issues of the time, everything from anti-semitism and communism to paedophilia and fame.
However, herein lies the main problem that LA Noire has in that you don't ever feel that you're driving the story forward, that anything that you do actually creates a change in the direction of the story. After completing one case where I have to pick between two suspects: a neglected husband and a creepy paedophile. Either one could of done it so I send the creep to the gas chamber. Fast forward two cases later, the topic of the case comes up and it's made out that the husband was sent down and, for those keeping score, that wasn't my choice.
It feels more like your a back seat passenger in a car, yeah you can fiddle about in the back, wind the windows down and get told off for smearing chocolate all over the back seat, but it's not as though it affects the journey.
This quibble aside, definetly a worthwhile purchase, a throughly enjoyable ride from start to finish with plenty twists and turns to keep you guessing as to where it's all going. More downloadable cases please Rockstar.
This is LA Noire and how every case starts off. And why shouldn't it, you would expect my local bobbies to kick off a case by covering all this details. You'll repeat this same start point about 20 times and for some reason, each crime scene still feels as fresh as the first one.
This is all because of LA Noire's greatest trick- detail. So, let's get the much lauded facial motion capture technology out of the way. To sum it up very quickly, it's beautifully detailed, you can . If an interviewee is holding something back, so long as you pay attention to their movements and quirks before and after you ask your questions, you'll root out the wrong 'uns . Perhaps if more games use this tech, it could be a defining feature of this generation, as is the case with third person cover mechanics.
But it's not just the faces that have detail. LA itself has been meticiously crafted, assembled and put together ala '40s style, as we often now expect with games these days, but it is always good to appreciate and admire the level of work and attention to detail the blocks and buildings have. Internal locations also have significant levels of details, particularly with the clues that you find in them
The story itself is pretty standard. You play with the role of Cole Phelps, former lieutant in the US Army and LAPD beat officer who becomes a detective for the force after showing great potential and promise. You go around solving cases and stopping crime quicker than Scooby Doo. Phelps usually has a partner with him who accompanies him on cases. They all have their own personalities and can be fun to talk to but never so much that you miss them when they are replaced by your next partner. Same situation with Phelps unfortunately, he's not particularly well developed as a character and some of the plot points involving him aren't conveyed well, particularly in the game's final third.
It's a good thing then that the cases themselves remain the focal point of the game as they are incredibly interesting and highly addictive. Picking from one of the four desks; Traffic, Homicide, Vice and Arson, you got across LA picking up clues and interviewing suspects. There's no QTE rubbish here, if you pick up a ledger to search for a name, your damn sure going to have to find it yourself.
Each desk has it's own micro-plot that spans across all the cases, linking them together. Homicide is by far the most involved as it deals with LA's infamous Black Dahlia murder but Traffic has some of the more interesting cases, tackling some of the tough issues of the time, everything from anti-semitism and communism to paedophilia and fame.
However, herein lies the main problem that LA Noire has in that you don't ever feel that you're driving the story forward, that anything that you do actually creates a change in the direction of the story. After completing one case where I have to pick between two suspects: a neglected husband and a creepy paedophile. Either one could of done it so I send the creep to the gas chamber. Fast forward two cases later, the topic of the case comes up and it's made out that the husband was sent down and, for those keeping score, that wasn't my choice.
It feels more like your a back seat passenger in a car, yeah you can fiddle about in the back, wind the windows down and get told off for smearing chocolate all over the back seat, but it's not as though it affects the journey.
This quibble aside, definetly a worthwhile purchase, a throughly enjoyable ride from start to finish with plenty twists and turns to keep you guessing as to where it's all going. More downloadable cases please Rockstar.
Thursday, 19 May 2011
Bringing it Back
It's been so long, nay, too long since I last blogged anything but starting right back up again. Hope I can get across some important views and make some interesting posts to make you think. I hope to be picking up LA Noire on Friday and playing it all weekend, so I hope to post some sort of a review of that. i'm also doing the Twitter thing these days so feel free to follow that too, you can link through to it via the blog.
That's all I got for you right now, hope I have some more interesting stuff to write about over the coming days/weeks/months that I manage to update and maintain this blog. Fingers crossed that I stick at it but who knows what the future holds.
~ N.D.
Edit Note: Let me know if there is anything you would like to see my blog about, else I'll just self indulge in games, sitcoms and films.
That's all I got for you right now, hope I have some more interesting stuff to write about over the coming days/weeks/months that I manage to update and maintain this blog. Fingers crossed that I stick at it but who knows what the future holds.
~ N.D.
Edit Note: Let me know if there is anything you would like to see my blog about, else I'll just self indulge in games, sitcoms and films.
Tuesday, 2 September 2008
Games to be declared M.I.A.
We're coming up and out of the slump called summer and into this wonderful thing called the "Holiday Season" aka, Autumn and Winter. If there is a worthwhile purchase to be made, it will be done here. Now, we KNOW what is coming out for these months, these dates have been nailed down but, a more interesting question is what WON'T we be seeing any time soon and try to establish where they are at currently. Duke Duken forever (and ever and ever and ever...) aside, what's hot products are frozen in time:
Splinter Cell: Convinction
Ah, Splinter Cell. You're black-and-white stealth mechanics made for a brilliant experience for those blessed with the gift of patience and you were fortunate enough to notice them becoming stale, unlike other developers in the past (read as EA). Light and dark is released to crowd blending mechanics and Sam Fisher, no longer an NSA agent or even a Double Agent, on the run for one reason or another. Like the brilliant Hitman series. However, SC:C has now become like a girlfriend who really doesn't care about you. You had those really great times together, stuck together through the smooth and the rough gradually before the calls just stopped coming and you were left wondering how you ended up at this point.
Current Status: A few claims of a Q2 2009 release from a while back is about it. It's worrying that such a high profile game, nah, franchise like SC is getting so little time in the sun. Apparently they've had to go back to the drawing board so you can expect that date to shift. I'm now less worried about when the game is come but what state it's in. Advice to Ubisoft? Get in touch with the boys at IO. Sure, they screwed up Kane and Lynch but the mechanics in Hitman are exactly what you should be aiming for but on a bigger scale.
Alan Wake
Challenging Splinter Cell for "New Biggest Joke in Games" crown, or maybe even the current holder, Mr. A. Wake (for those who have spent the last 3 years trying to work out the pun) has been absent from just about every gaming event since TGS... 2006. Not to say that we have not been without information there's been more than one apology over the delay. I think we're at a six count here. From what footage and other information has been revealed, none of which tells us how it will be playable, is saying that it's Silent Hill meets the Shining.
Is it time to get up: No. Quite simply. This one isn't getting started in any way. Promo flyers told us that we could be seeing it at TGS 08 ended up being flyers from a year ago. That's how bad things have gotten with this game. In April we were told the media blackout wouldn't be much longer and there have been some mag features but other than that, nothing. It's even having a knock on effect with Max Payne 3, originally a Remedy product, rumoured to be shifting back to Rockstar due to the work being done on Alan. To Remedy, I hope if and when this is released it was worth it and end up with a product you're proud to have worked for so damn long on.
White Knight Chronicles
It's not all about Xbox MIA's, oh no, there are some PS3 ones too. White Knight, or "Shirokishi Monogatari" for you Japanophiles out there, was annouced back when the PS3 hype was at it's peak. That's right, before it's, and the Wii's, launch. Since then, we've not nessacrily been drip fed more than scrounged like hungry hyenas for information on what could be an FF beating title. Result- uuuhhhh, not much. It's worrying when the official website hasn't been updated since July, 2007. There have been some shots of a town upon the back of a turtle and other equally impressive visuals but not alot else. No footage since TGS07 either
When's levelling up: Another grey date of the end of Q4 08 (that's March to us common people). It's also rumoured to be at this year's TGS (which makes sense as that as that was when it was last spotted). Seriously Sony, why aren't you getting behind this? It's an exclusive game that looks freakin' fantastic and has the potential to actually show what you're machine does! Finger out, now!
Ghostbusters
Upon searching for big Wii titles to hit delays (and moving through the mountains of shovelware to include Wii Fitness and Wii Excercise. No joke, they're there... disturbingly), I decided that there were no already annouced future big titles, which swings both ways in the fan boy war, and will instead talk about Ghostbusters.
Why? Well, with Activision/Vivendi merger, this game has been dropped by the publisher. To which I mentally and verbally said, "Waht?!" This is a fully licensed game from one of the biggest movie franchises of the late '80s - early '90s. Dan Akyroyd and Harold Ramis writing. Bill Murray's likeness and voice. You've been given a license to essentially print money if it's done right. So you drop it? It didn't meet the Acti-Blizz standards along with a number of other sierra products including Brutal Legend (Jack Black in alternate Psychonauts inspired rock-iverse = surely win?) and left with dying stars, Crash and Spyro and promising Prototype. My main punt at why these games have survived is the potential sequels.
When's it gonna call: 2009? Maybe? To be fair, it's been having good coverage up until recently and it looks half decent, with the prospect of wielding a proton pack with the Wiimote too tantalising to bear. Sony are rumoured, a word I use bluntly, to be publishing this as they have the movie rights but, luckily Sony Pictures (and not SCE) are looking for a publisher. With the anniversary coming up, blu ray movie special editon? Again, it's on you Sony.
These are just 4 big ones that stick in the fore front of my mind. I'm certain there are plenty more where those game from. If I missed out any important ones you want me to cover, I am more than happy to revisit this topic.
Splinter Cell: Convinction
Ah, Splinter Cell. You're black-and-white stealth mechanics made for a brilliant experience for those blessed with the gift of patience and you were fortunate enough to notice them becoming stale, unlike other developers in the past (read as EA). Light and dark is released to crowd blending mechanics and Sam Fisher, no longer an NSA agent or even a Double Agent, on the run for one reason or another. Like the brilliant Hitman series. However, SC:C has now become like a girlfriend who really doesn't care about you. You had those really great times together, stuck together through the smooth and the rough gradually before the calls just stopped coming and you were left wondering how you ended up at this point.
Current Status: A few claims of a Q2 2009 release from a while back is about it. It's worrying that such a high profile game, nah, franchise like SC is getting so little time in the sun. Apparently they've had to go back to the drawing board so you can expect that date to shift. I'm now less worried about when the game is come but what state it's in. Advice to Ubisoft? Get in touch with the boys at IO. Sure, they screwed up Kane and Lynch but the mechanics in Hitman are exactly what you should be aiming for but on a bigger scale.
Alan Wake
Challenging Splinter Cell for "New Biggest Joke in Games" crown, or maybe even the current holder, Mr. A. Wake (for those who have spent the last 3 years trying to work out the pun) has been absent from just about every gaming event since TGS... 2006. Not to say that we have not been without information there's been more than one apology over the delay. I think we're at a six count here. From what footage and other information has been revealed, none of which tells us how it will be playable, is saying that it's Silent Hill meets the Shining.
Is it time to get up: No. Quite simply. This one isn't getting started in any way. Promo flyers told us that we could be seeing it at TGS 08 ended up being flyers from a year ago. That's how bad things have gotten with this game. In April we were told the media blackout wouldn't be much longer and there have been some mag features but other than that, nothing. It's even having a knock on effect with Max Payne 3, originally a Remedy product, rumoured to be shifting back to Rockstar due to the work being done on Alan. To Remedy, I hope if and when this is released it was worth it and end up with a product you're proud to have worked for so damn long on.
White Knight Chronicles
It's not all about Xbox MIA's, oh no, there are some PS3 ones too. White Knight, or "Shirokishi Monogatari" for you Japanophiles out there, was annouced back when the PS3 hype was at it's peak. That's right, before it's, and the Wii's, launch. Since then, we've not nessacrily been drip fed more than scrounged like hungry hyenas for information on what could be an FF beating title. Result- uuuhhhh, not much. It's worrying when the official website hasn't been updated since July, 2007. There have been some shots of a town upon the back of a turtle and other equally impressive visuals but not alot else. No footage since TGS07 either
When's levelling up: Another grey date of the end of Q4 08 (that's March to us common people). It's also rumoured to be at this year's TGS (which makes sense as that as that was when it was last spotted). Seriously Sony, why aren't you getting behind this? It's an exclusive game that looks freakin' fantastic and has the potential to actually show what you're machine does! Finger out, now!
Ghostbusters
Upon searching for big Wii titles to hit delays (and moving through the mountains of shovelware to include Wii Fitness and Wii Excercise. No joke, they're there... disturbingly), I decided that there were no already annouced future big titles, which swings both ways in the fan boy war, and will instead talk about Ghostbusters.
Why? Well, with Activision/Vivendi merger, this game has been dropped by the publisher. To which I mentally and verbally said, "Waht?!" This is a fully licensed game from one of the biggest movie franchises of the late '80s - early '90s. Dan Akyroyd and Harold Ramis writing. Bill Murray's likeness and voice. You've been given a license to essentially print money if it's done right. So you drop it? It didn't meet the Acti-Blizz standards along with a number of other sierra products including Brutal Legend (Jack Black in alternate Psychonauts inspired rock-iverse = surely win?) and left with dying stars, Crash and Spyro and promising Prototype. My main punt at why these games have survived is the potential sequels.
When's it gonna call: 2009? Maybe? To be fair, it's been having good coverage up until recently and it looks half decent, with the prospect of wielding a proton pack with the Wiimote too tantalising to bear. Sony are rumoured, a word I use bluntly, to be publishing this as they have the movie rights but, luckily Sony Pictures (and not SCE) are looking for a publisher. With the anniversary coming up, blu ray movie special editon? Again, it's on you Sony.
These are just 4 big ones that stick in the fore front of my mind. I'm certain there are plenty more where those game from. If I missed out any important ones you want me to cover, I am more than happy to revisit this topic.
Are the dice finally in Sony's hands
After a solid 2 years of the Internet telling Sony how much it's having it's ass handed to it by Microsoft's hardcore crowd and Nintendo's mainstream assault, Sony have the chance to strike back come October and it's all down two 3 words. Or is it one?
Littlebigplanet.
The game has probably seen more hype shoved behind it than Halo 3 and more potential than Portal. We've all heard the talk; Littlebig for the win, Sackboy for president and even as an entertaining way to rally off Sony stats but these last two months, Sony and Media Molecule need to get their heads down and shut the hell up.The best way to kill any game is over hyping, particularly with the critics.
Metal Gear Solid 4* is the great example with the concept of nowhere to hide, giving us visions of fully destructable environements, being quickly reduced to hiding in plain sight, merely a (technically sound) reworking of MGS3's camo system and a team mechanic which was dropped for latter stages. Or, if you want a better example of hype over kill, Haze.
Lesson for today? It's fine to say that you're game is great and show it off because if you don't, you'll get another Okami but hold off one saturating the market with promos until those precious sales figures get in.
*Note: Love MGS4, honest :)
Littlebigplanet.
The game has probably seen more hype shoved behind it than Halo 3 and more potential than Portal. We've all heard the talk; Littlebig for the win, Sackboy for president and even as an entertaining way to rally off Sony stats but these last two months, Sony and Media Molecule need to get their heads down and shut the hell up.The best way to kill any game is over hyping, particularly with the critics.
Metal Gear Solid 4* is the great example with the concept of nowhere to hide, giving us visions of fully destructable environements, being quickly reduced to hiding in plain sight, merely a (technically sound) reworking of MGS3's camo system and a team mechanic which was dropped for latter stages. Or, if you want a better example of hype over kill, Haze.
Lesson for today? It's fine to say that you're game is great and show it off because if you don't, you'll get another Okami but hold off one saturating the market with promos until those precious sales figures get in.
*Note: Love MGS4, honest :)
Saturday, 7 June 2008
Do Wii still care about Nintendo's all conquering machine?
The Wii. You love it, the ladies love it, the media love it and, hell, even politicians love it. But after been out on the market for nearly 2 years now, the question has to be asked, does it really deserve are love? For the Wii, in spite of all it's brilliance, has been failing to aspire of late although they are still harder to get a hold of than a greased up monkey.
Alright, now compare the brilliant thrid party games: Zak and Wiki, Rayman: Raving Rabbids, No More Heroes, Resident Evil 4 and Boom Blox.
So, why the disappointment? The main reason is that of the much lauded Wiimote motion sensing technology. Since it burst onto the scene, it's changed the way that we think of playing games and Wii Sports, bundled with the Wii as almost a tech demo, has provided hours of fun for, if they adverts are to be believed, grannies and young sex women the world over.
And then what happened? No seriously, what happened? Copies of Wii Sports have gone dusty and the number of titles that use the motion sensing as a pivotal gameplay mechanic has severly dropped off. Who's to "blame" for this? Nintendo. No, seriously, it's been rather interesting when you have a good look at the Wii's titles up close, particularly when comparing first and thrid party games.
Look at what awesome games have been released on it so far by Nintendo: Zelda: Twilight Princess, Super Mario Galaxy, Meteroid Prime 3, Mario Kart Wii and Super Smash Bros Brawl.
Alright, now compare the brilliant thrid party games: Zak and Wiki, Rayman: Raving Rabbids, No More Heroes, Resident Evil 4 and Boom Blox.
Now, with a few exceptions to the rule, it seems that in a weird twist of fate, the notorious 3rd party Nintendo titles have tried to do something fresh, innoative and exciting with the Wiimote's technology rather than having it require extra bits to play it "properly" or even just optional use. Even Wii Fit needs to have a balance board attached with it and MKW has the Wii Wheel.
As for optional use, it's alright with Mario Kart and it works well with Zelda but many reviews of Smash Bros have gone as far as telling you to not even bother using the Wiimote itself with Official Nintendo Magazine stating, "Quite simply, no" with the controls of the 'mote-nunchuk combo all over the place.
Now, certainly there ARE good titles by Nintendo that make full use of the Wiimote's capabilities and there are (a HELL of a lot of) bad ones by thrid parties but I just feel that despite Nintendo creating the motion sensing Wii, that they aren't taking complete advantage of making fresh titles, leading the way in it's development and instead using the motion sensing as a little add on to big games, making it as useful as Sixaxis, with this article also a relevance to Sony and their DIRE support of Sixaxis.
Let's hope Nintendo prove me wrong and I really do invite them to do so make the TECHNOLOGY, not the IDEA of the Wii as sucessful as the DS. Hopefully, upcoming Sam and Max, Okami and whatever hidden Nintedo title Reggie has hidden away continue with the Wiimote's brilliance.
__________________________________________________________
HTG Out
Monday, 2 June 2008
Why Metal Gear Solid 4 must succeed
It may seem a hollow statement on the surface considering early reviews are falling over themselves to praise the brilliance of Kojima and Konami but Metal Gear Solid 4 is about to make a bold statement, whether it knows it or not.This is not about "saving" the PlayStation brand with the triple A, killer app title that the PS3 so desperately needs, this is going to be a statement about gaming. This isn't even going to be about fresh ideas in gaming because, despite MGS4's new innovations, it is merely building on a winning formula set out by it's predessors.
This, is about preserving the hardcore gaming market. Ever since the Wii and DS consoles have burst onto the scene, the casual gaming market has boomed. Wii Fit, Wii Sports and Brain Training are just a few names you can throw down of casual games and, don't get me wrong, they're great.
However, game developers have been long instilled with the bad habit of seeing a great unique idea and coping it, usually badly, and beating to death. Two easy examples are Resident Evil 4 and Grand Theft Auto 3. Honestly, how many more over-the-shoulder view games are we going to see? As for GTA, well, let's just say that there will be more clones to come.
Now, taking this into consideration, we need to look at the impact of the casual game. The brilliant Nintendogs has spawned.... Dogz (yes, there IS a "Z" there), Buzz gave birth to Chegger's Party Quiz (how did they think of that?) and, of course, Wii Sports gave way to Brunswick Pro Bowling. Not exactly stellar spawning compared to Resident Evil 4 begating Gears of War and Grand Theft Auto begating almost everything that has a sandbox environment.Of course there have been some bad clones of hardcore games and some good clones of casual games but there is a balancing act in place between the two markets and either must tipped the other off the edge.
Things seem to be levelling out, post Wii fallout, with a great, and I mean GRRREAT, summer of proper, hardcore games we've had. GTAIV leads the pack comfortably with Mario Kart Wii nipping at it's heels and with as more to look forward to with Metal Gear in 10 days and Smash Bros at the end of the month.
It's these games that need to keep the balance going on the sales charts because, if they don't, people will stop making these brilliant, high production games and end up with poor looking, poor playing games which last for mere hours and have a difficulty curve that looks like a flat line.
HTG Out
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