Anyway that's the feeling I got upon seeing this article on Kotaku today which talked about a possible new FIFA street style arcade game from Ubisoft which promises to deliver the greatness of soccer without the pretentiousness of the actual FIFA's and Pro Evo Soccers. For you see it looks like a great idea, a great concept (like FIFA Street 2) but could also be complete horrible wreck (like FIFA Street 3).
I'm on the fence on this and of course it'll all depend on how the game actually plays. Let us count the ways in which I am now judging this entire game (which might or might not come out) just based on a few screencaps.
-The art style is great, like the Madden games for the Wii or, more appropriately, the FIFA Street games instead of focusing on realistic models they go with uber deformed models whose muscles are exagerated, lankiness is extremized and so on.
-Some licensing! Hey look its Messi! Gatusso! Puyol! Puyol's glorious hair! and they're wearing official Adidas and Puma gear! here's the thing, Pro Evo: if you're ever gonna be taken seriously (by me) you need to have actual players and teams. Its very important. This game has started off on the right foot.
-Whoa Whoa Whoa....is that Alexis Lalas and Coby Jones? what is this game set in the early to mid 1990's when these guys were still relevant? I mean even if you're gonna throw in some legends (like FIFA Street did) are these two actually legends?
-It's five on five. Look I'll be honest, I may be a hardcore badass hooligan but playing a soccer game can get kinda boring. Shit watching a soccer game can get kinda dull too, this should help ease that. Throw in a good soundtrack, maybe some NBA Jam shit and you should have a winner.
But then again can we really judge this thing on five or six screenshots? nah not yet, especially since it might be rushed to cash in on the World Cup, maybe when we get a Youtube video we'll be able to see what's up with this.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Ubisoft's Football Entry
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Project 10 Dollar
While this has been previously done in the form of special editions or pre order bonuses (for example the special edition of SFIV included a code for an alternate costumes pack) this is the first time the bonus has been given out simply for buying a new copy.
Let us count the ways in which, for consumers, this blows. I understand that EA wants to get its fair share of the profits for the games it makes, I understand that once a game is sold used (via gamestop, Amazon or what have you) then EA no longer makes any money off that game. This makes the project perfectly sensible. But it still feels like they're trying to cheat gamers out of their money. It makes perfect sense for anybody to try to get the best deal on what they purchase, if a gamer wants to save a few bucks and is content with buying used then so be it. This isn't a defense of the above used game retailers, in a perfect world we'd all be able to sell our used games to each other with not middleman. Because the world is far from perfect the above retailers play an important role in this clandestine market, they make a fair share of money out of it too.
Lets look at EA's model. The company rakes in the biggest profit margin out of new games, as opposed to retailers, but let us assume that the people that buy new were gonna buy new anyway and have no intention of buying used either for ethical reasons, because they really like the game or because they just love EA. The target market for a new game is those gamers who are willing to pay the exorbitant amount of money that a new game costs. But EA is not content with having this market cornered (because no one else can make the game and sell it new) now they want to eat at the used game market and they want to do it not by having a smaller pricepoint (and smaller profit margin) nor getting into the used game market directly but rather by providing an incentive which forces those who don't buy new and want that incentive to purchase it at an incredible markup.
What you are doing, then, is basically telling your clientele that there are two types of classes: those who buy new and give you direct profit and those who don't. You're not so much rewarding the former (because DLC isn't that expensive) as punishing the latter (because DLC isn't that expensive). No one is being forced to buy anything, obviously, but you're still essentially blackmailing people into giving you their money and not the retailers or a friend or an ebayer or whoever you happen to buy a used game from.
Now let's forget about DLC for a bit because DLC is not the only premium offered in project ten (more accurately fifteen) dollar. There have been games in which the bonus is access to an in-game store which would otherwise cost actual money without the code. So now the question is why isn't this available to everybody?
Even in the case of DLC you're still somewhat cheating your customers, if you're willing to give away DLC to a segment of the population then, honestly, your DLC probably didn't cost you that much, or maybe its not that good or maybe you're just making up bonuses that, though optional, some folks will have to pay a lot more to get. If you're not that into your DLC in the first place (since you're giving it away after all) then why not include any bonus maps, access to stores, uniforms or what have you with the game? why not let everybody have access to it?
Because you're greedy. Because you take the same position that textbook makers take, you sell crap with tons of markup then get angry that you're not getting a piece of an emerging market (used media) but since you cant release a new edition of a game every year (unless its a sports game, right EA?) then you come up with stupid shit like Project 10 dollar. It makes you come off as a shitty multinational who wants to keep reigns on everything they sell even after its sold. You try to dissuade those who want or have no option but to buy used by resorting to gimmicks. And for that, EA, welcome to my shitlist, population? you.
By the way this isn't a rant against downloadable content. Look if and when Infinity Ward decides to bless us with some bonus maps for Modern Warfare 2 I'll be the first in line to buy it. But the thing here is that if its taken this long then obviously its not something that was ready at launch, its not something that could have been included at launch, its a legitimate add-on to the game and something that should be worth more money. In the case of Battlefield Bad Company 2 (and other EA titles) the downloadable content will be available at launch and will be free to whoever buys the game new. To everybody else it'll cost a bit more, optional sure, but if its ready to go on launch...well why not just include it with the game? but now I'm just repeating shit I already said.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
In Which Microsoft Insults Me
A few days ago my Xbox Live Gold subscription ended rendering me unable to play Modern Warfare (or I suppose any other game) online. I wasn't too upset, after all I had paid only $5 out of pocket for a three month subscription. I had made peace with my progress in the game and was ready to take a break from it. It was, you could say, an amicable separation between me and Xbox.
Flash forward to today and an email I received from Microsoft informing me that I was eligible for a special offer in which I'd be able to renew my Gold subscription for a year for only $3.33 a month. That still adds up to about $40 but its less than the typical $50 yearly fee and way better than the $7.99 fee that they charge you if you pay monthly. This was the email sent to me:
The issue here, however, is not whether Xbox wants me back or not, its not whether I want to get back to Modern Warfare as soon as possible or not. The issue is that they sent me an email and then friggin lied to me. They offered me a special deal (just for me!) and then promptly told me that I wasn't qualified to receive such a special deal. I know that Microsoft is a heartless multinational corporation that could give a fuck about me or any other Xbox Live user but I don't need to be promised something and then have that taken away.
For that I say fuck off Microsoft, I needed a break from video games anyway.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Power Ups
The Ice Flower - Like the fire flower but instead of throwing little fire pellets Mario, Luigi and their unnamed fungi cohorts throw (get ready for it) ice. The ice freezes enemies but it does not eliminate them automatically. Instead the player has the ability to pick up the newly created ice block and hurl it at someone or something. This does come in handy sometimes but I'd rather just have the baddie gone for good. The other upside to the ice is that some baddies that are immune to the fire pellets are frozen by the ice (bones, bullets, thwomps come to mind). I'm happy to report that Boo remains immune to just about everything.
Penguin Suit - Well its tradition that Mario turns into some sort of animal and for this game that animal is a penguin. When dressed as a penguin Mario walks funny, is able to throw ice projectiles like with the ice flower and is able to swim faster and more easily. Underwater it basically serves the same purpose as the frog suit did in Mario 3. Its great for swimming, its as good as the ice flower but it unfortunately does not help with the slippery floors in the ice world. This severely devalues this power up, its sparse availability devalues it even further.
Propeller Suit - The best new power up in the game. It comes in a form of a mushroom that flies up when it pops out of the power block. Once caught Mario dons a red speed suit with a pretty cool helmet (with a propeller at the top of it) that allows Mario to fly up and then float down in a semi controllable fashion. Yes previous games allowed full on directional flight while this only lets you basically jump really long distances but its still really useful in certain situations. This game has an unusually large amount of platforms and shit that moves, if you have a propeller mushroom you can just fly from safe spot to safe spot. Ii you're playing multiplayer you only need one suit to get through. The amount of awesome in this powerup is truly difficult to quantify.
So there it is. We've seen weirder stuff in previous games, flying raccoons, Terminator Mario, Giant Mario, Tiny Mario (which returns in this game) so a flying suit and ice flowers really arent out of the ordinary. Poweups have always added to the individual charm of each Mario game, these new additions represent the Wii version well.
Loser of the Week: The American people in 1998. Turns out Mark McGwire used steroids for the longer part of his career including the Home Run chase of 1998. In other news the Earth is round, the sky is blue. In retrospect we were duped into thinking we were witnessing history, in fact we were witnessing the apex of the steroid era. I don't have an issue with the whole "cheating" thing because technically steroids were legal at the time but it still kinda sucks when we consider that even though Babe Ruth and Roger Maris were doing it in simple times they were also doing it on nothing but beer and hot dogs.
Monday, January 4, 2010
NHL 09 on the Cheap
While this might still be technically true I now feel obligated to share an update on this situation. Turns out that about a month and a half after my post graced the front of the internet I found NHL 09 at the same store for $5.99. I of course had a surrogate buy it for me instantly. Now, while this is truly a noteworthy occurrence, I should also note that NHL 07 remains available for $30.
What does this all mean? well that one of my initial thoughts was accurate: its not that the place still wants that much for a three year old outdated game but rather their pricing system was horribly outdated when it came to software. NHL 07 fell through the cracks and was never marked down. NHL 09, on the other hand, was marked down as soon as NHL 10 came out.
So at least their situation is getting better. REDACTED was (and still is) getting eaten alive by more savvy retailers such as Wal Mart and Target not to mention the online competitors. The biggest problem here, aside from the loss of revenue, is that this situation did not help this place shake off its image as an old, outdated store in which your parents used to shop but you wouldn't be caught dead in. Everybody's parents eventually die and once that happens you've just lost your base.
It's a good sign that they're getting their shit together but by no means does this make REDACTED even relevant as compared to the realities of today's mercantile situation.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Mario Bros Wii - Gameplay
This game is a piece of retro gaming deliciousness. The mechanics are identical to every sidescrolling Mario game from the original Mario Bros. to the numbered entries, World, and the DS titles. Yes despite the gameplay being so familiar we haven't had a game like this on a full size console since Mario World on the SNES. Instead we've been treated to variations on the Mario theme in the form of Mario 64, Sunshine and even Galaxy. Not bad games by any stretch but if I want to play a 3D platformer I'll just...well actually I don't want to play a 3D platformer.
Of course the main differences are the better graphics (better but not in the same league as what Microsoft and Sony are doing) and the inclusion of some of the Wii remote's unique uses. For the most part, however, the game consists of Mario making his way through very long 2D stages, getting powerups along the way, jumping obstacles, destroying baddies, grabbing coins and so on.
The game is markedly more difficult then anything with the Mario title in the past. The stages are huge and powerups are scattered at the rate of maybe 1.5 mushrooms per stage. If this seems scant (and it is) its nothing compared to the number of Yoshi's scattered along, by my count the green dinosaur appears only in three stages and if you make it to the end of a stage with Mario will dismount and wave goodbye to him before going to the next stage. Yep, gone are the days when you could simply go back and grab a Yoshi.
While the powerups are limited the baddies and pratfalls are not. The jumps have to be better timed, the baddies are fiercer and more varied. While the game is incredibly difficult in single player it gets exponentially worse in multiplayer. Yes its awesome that four players can play at the same time but it leads to fucking pandemonium. There are many ways to play multiplayer: when everybody fends for themselves it sucks because you're playing on one screen and all characters have to be on that screen at all times which means you have to wait for your retarded cousin to get to where you are before advancing, when playing cooperatively it sucks because the game slows down and you find yourself just carrying your retarded cousin (in the form of a nameless yellow toad) to the next level.
But playing in single player is incredibly fun precisely because its so challenging. You can grab one of the older Mario sidescrollers and beat it in a few hours, in a day at the most, but not so with this game. It took me a solid week to finish it and for this the game developers must be commended. They took a formula which we're all familiar with and made it challenging. And for the better because, honestly, at this point who can't start playing any older Mario game and finish it within the same day?
Replay value is added in the form of star coins or coinstars or whatever they're called. Three huge coins with star imprints are scattered through in each level. Now at first you're only told you can use them to buy hint videos (useless) but then Peach (Toadstool) teases something about world 9 after you finish the game and how you can only play through it once you have every star coin from each stage. Fucking great. I just spent a whole week thinking I didn't need these things and now I have to go back? ugh.
But in the end its an awfully enjoyable game. It's very difficult but its also very difficult to put down. I found my wii remotes constantly needing new batteries (something I've never seen before) and I really appreciated Nintendo not having me stand on some sort of board or making ninja slices or attachments and shit to actually enjoy this game. The best games for Nintendo consoles are those made by Nintendo. This is both a blessing and a curse because you often end up with shitty third party titles but then again the proprietary titles are so good that it makes you want to get a Nintendo console because you cant find these anywhere else.
Coming soon: Talking about power-ups, characters and the long promised Koopa Kids post.
Loser of the Week: TMZ. Haha you spent countless thousands of dollars for an old tattered up picture that purports to show John F Kennedy whoring it up on a boat with some naked Europeans, you call such picture potentially history altering....then it turns out all you bought is a photoshopped version of a picture that originally ran in a 1960's issue of playboy featuring paid models including "Andy" who doesnt even look like JFK. Hahaha, and you put your ubiquitous watermark on it! thus assuring the internet that your dumbassery will live on forever.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Doom Indeed
Yes I did take that picture from the Call of Duty Wiki but I also took a picture of it when it appeared on my TV. For proof of course. I did manage to get my hands on a copy of the first Modern Warfare, the one I couldn't finish because it was stolen by a crackhead when I was barely getting started with it. Sure I'll finish this one too but what I really want is to get my hands on the third MW. Yes I realize that just a month ago I was making fun of this game. No I dont care.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
For my Homie
Ghost was a consummate badass who saved my life a couple of times and led us to success in more than a few missions. His impeccable leadership and knowledge of computers and jails got us through that crazy stage where we broke a bloke out of prison. His trademark skull mask scared the shit out of enemy combatants. Fuck he even has his own comic book! but now he's dead and he's (probably) not coming back.
Motherfuck that Shepherd guy. Now I'm gonna have to kill him.
Loser of the Week: Time Magazine. You named Ben Bernanke the person of the year? why? for not fucking up the economy even more? I thought his job was to fix this thing, it doesn't look like its getting fixed. Well unless you're a Wall Street CEO who's bonus is protected by the government. Good job Time Magazine, just two years ago you picked another consummate badass (Putin), last year you picked the most powerful man in the world (Obama) and this year you pick some moron. You shoulda picked the guys who created Twitter but you pussied out.
Friday, December 11, 2009
More Modern Warfare
Being the nerd that I am I've always been fascinated by insignias, logos and so on be they military, commercial, athletic, you name it. If it has an identity I'm interested in it. This is probably why I have a collection of patches, probably why I have Uniwatch on my RSS feed.
My favourite part of Modern Warfare besides the pointless violence, then, is the various teams that are available in multiplayer. There are a total of six different teams all with their own unique logos, in-game chatter, uniforms and so on. Today we take a look at these teams identities, look for inspirations in the real life and compare them according to overall badassery. I apologize in advance for the poor quality of the emblems, apparently they haven't made their way to the internet yet so I just borrowed them from some youtube vids.
-Rangers - An obvious one, these guys represent the United States Army, specifically the Army Rangers. The colours and the star are borrowed directly from the widely used U.S Army logo (the one that accompanies all the swag you pick up at high school job fairs). The star also appears on the Rangers insignia. Sadly there is not a single trace of a lightning bolt on the game emblem but at least they kept the gold, the rifles complete the coat of arms in the most literal way possible. As for badassery? the Rangers have a swagger about them with their insistence on leading the way.
-Seals - The U.S Navy, the emblem has an eagle holding onto a sword whereas in the actual emblem the eagle is holding either an anchor or a trident or whatever else it can get its claws on. The emblem is finished off with a globe and what appears to be the Star Trek logo in the background. The SEALs have always been the most acclaimed and famous special ops team in the U.S military. They also have that swagger about them in the game but their crop is certainly devalued since all teams have the same abilities. In reality the Seals would probably kick the most ass.
-Task Force 141 - The main group in the single player game, I've always considered them the British team and with good reason, not only do the soldiers talk in British accents but the emblem is based on the British Special Air Services (SAS) division. The skull and the crazy looking plane in the back are an addendum as is the laurel which helps frame the emblem. The badassery of this team is seen in the single player campaign, ergo I have yet to see it.
-OpFor - The Middle Eastern team, an ultranational (but not Islamist?) faction that fights in the streets and mountain tops wearing assorted keffiyehs and other assorted terrorist ware. The logo is a typical one for an Islamist group, it instantly reminded me of the logo of the real life Muslim Brotherhood. The various swords, the crescent moon, the flame in the back, they really went for all the markers and were able to fit them into an emblem that can fit into any faction in any country in the Middle East. They're fun to use because you're using the bad guys, but not a lot of badassery.
-Spetsnaz - Quickly close your eyes and think of two things that scream "Communism". Chances are at least one of those two things is either a red star or the hammer and sickle. The Spetsnaz emblem in the game is just that, a hammer and sickle inside a red star. It doesn't get much more Soviet than that. The real Spetsnaz did not have an official logo and it appears that the one used in the game is based on that used by the KGB. Since the Red Army is no more, Russian intelligence falls under the umbrella of the Glavnoye Razvedyvatel'noye Upravleniye or GRU, naturally this new organization no longer uses the old communist insignia. When you constantly use the word "comrade", by the way, your badass level is through the roof.
-Militia - Finally the Brazilian militia which isn't modeled after any particular group but is sort of a representation of similar groups found throughout the world at various times. A clandestine, revolutionary group with a particular goal: usually to overthrow the government but frequently just to work as an organized crime syndicate. These are not soldiers but ordinary malcontents, their emblem is a red hand which is reminiscent of other movements that have sought change through revolutionary means. It is also fairly easy to reproduce: after a political killing simply dab your hand in the blood of your enemy and press it against the wall, bam! instant calling card. The militia is also up there not because they're taking on some of the most powerful military forces in the world while wearing casual clothing but rather because one of their members dares wear a Boca Juniors shirt. In Brazil. That dude has got some balls.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
A Downward Spiral
The objective is to engrain an image into the consumer's mind so that as soon as a brand is named (or read or whatever) there is an instant visual accompanying it. Think of the Wii and you think of the odd remote, the over reliance on white. Think of an iPod and you think of white headphones and those shadow commercials they use to run. Think of Playstation and you instantly picture oppression and the long used PS logo. What about the Xbox?
Simple right? the green gash that was used for the original Xbox. When its laid out in black its the original, for the 360 Microsoft paired it with white. You put the gash in a globe, add some nice colors and font and you get the Xbox 360 logo. A pretty, Web 2.0 identity that says "yes we're for hardcore gamers but we also care about families, we're not oppressive oligarchs like Sony but we're not pussies like Nintendo".
But the thing is that was not the original Xbox 360 logo. When it was released the overlying visual was the psychotropic, green-yellow-white-blue, moving, mind fuck spiral. When the 360 was released in 2005 Microsoft had that spiral everywhere, but after some time (and I couldn't tell you when) it went away, replaced by the sphere and the wordmark. Sure its still used today but its hardly the primary mark. So why did it went away? some thoughts below.
Firstly the spiral is impossible to reproduce, especially on a small scale. Imagine trying to get that thing on a polo shirt and have every individual strand appear as it does on a computer screen or a piece of paper? its impossible. Any logo needs to be reproduced on all sorts of scaled and the spiral simply does not work. Add to that the huge amount of negative space in it and the fact that that space probably has to be filled with white and you have a logo that is impossible to work with.
The X-gash is not only part of the visual identity but its actually part of the controller, going to it as the main visual simply makes sense from a marketing standpoint. The spiral, at most, is part of the box and the box gets thrown into the trash after you make sure your system works.
Could it also be that a spiral as a video game logo has been done before? specifically by Dreamcast? I suppose. Though the Xbox and the DC's spirals have very little in common, I'd say nothing except for the basic shape and the fact that they both appear on machines that are primarily white in color. The thing is that by 2005 the Dreamcast was obsolete, Sega was out of the hardware business and fear of litigation should have been minimal. It probably was since the Xbox spiral still technically is part of the larger visual package.
The answer is probably a short google search away and its probably not as romantic as the shit I'd like to believe so I'm just going to assume I'm correct in assuming that the logo's uselessness and its similarities to the Sega system ultimately killed it. In the end if I were Microsoft (and I'm not) I would have gone with the one visual that comes to everybody's mind when they think Xbox 360: the Red Ring of Death.
Oh Snap!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Modern Warfare
I mentioned in my previous mockery of a post that the usual critiques of a military game, including the glorification and nationalist spirit, applied here but do not necessarily demerit from the experience. It has been my experience, rather, that militarism and nationalism and all other isms though present are fairly contained in this game.
Glorification of the military is limited in online multiplayer. Sure you mainly play with a group focused on a single objective but your team members are hardly united in the same manner as in the actual military. There is a lack of comradeship here probably because you have not spent time training with these guys, you don't care if they die and so on. There are also a number of different factions which fight it out and which you don't select. It's difficult to form a bond to the Rangers or the SEALs, for example, when at any given point you are assigned to be a member of the Red Army or a Muslim Jihadist. Now the Brazilian militia? that's just absurd.
Nationalism is mainly present in the form of selectable titles that consist of a variety of national flags. Yes if you're American you can use an American flag, if you're Mexican a Mexican and so on. Obviously anybody whose willing to use these things instead of other callsigns are predisposed to do so from an earlier age as a product of a specific upbringing. But even when you know this shit, when you think the way I do, you still cant help but wear a comm device and let everybody know that you've just been killed by a Chinaman or that you just shot a Filipino or that that Mexican is really starting to fucking annoy you. It's not necessarily a bad thing, its actually kinda fun.
That's enough of this. I don't want to go into specifics because its not my thing and, honestly, there are very few defects in this game. It's fun, it appeals to a certain instinct, its highly customizable. It's like Tamagotchi for men.
Loser of the Week:
-Gillette. Haha, what the fuck? first Thierry Henry cheats his way into the World Cup now Tiger Woods cheats on his wife? you better hope Roger Federer doesn't kill a hooker any time soon.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Man that is so dumb
In other news that X-Plorer whose customization I analyzed in exhausting detail some months ago has broken. This fucking blows. Now I have four guitars and three of them are broken in some form or another. I'd like to believe I've just played them too much and messed up the gears (I certainly did play that custom til it could take no more) but most likely they're just meant to be break after playing for some time.
The good news is I have a replacement in the form of a GH3 Gibson wireless which is jet black (ok its just black) and to which I have attached the Weezer inspired lightning bolt strap. It actually looks pretty cool. Add to that the three months subscription to Live Gold that I bought for $5 today and I'm a pretty happy camper.
Now if only I could get some better updates on this thing. You must admit though, even if by "you" I mean "me", yesterday's post was the shit.
Oh hey its Paul McCartney
Monday, November 16, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
The Onion: Modern Warfare
Anyway you can always count on The Onion to lampoon such an occurrence. This time they've produced a video talking about Modern Warfare 3 which promises the most realistic military gameplay ever. Everything from "waiting around for hours" and "cleaning humvees" to countless fun "hauling equipment" and "filling out paperwork". These are only a few of the jokes in the beginning of the news story. It only gets better. I rarely laugh out loud to anything I read or see online but I was definitely Lol'ing with this video.
I wont embed the video because two video posts in a row would be gauche. Watch for the link at the end of this entry. I'm not against this game per se, I just dont really care much for it. I had the first MW and I played it for a bit before it was stolen by (I assume) some crackhead. Of course I found that it glorified military life to a great extent but I'm not enough of a fucking liberal blowhard to be offended by it. People trying to make the military look badass? my that's shocking! I also find that games in which you control an arm holding a gun don't really hold my attention for very long. Yes at this point in my life I'd rather play a fake guitar than shoot a few fake Afghans.
But getting back to the Onion video, it appears it was somewhat produced with the aide of the developers of this game which means that they at least have a sense of humour and realize that their game might be exaggerate what the military does and are willing to take a few jabs at the whole situation.
Aaaaanyways, watch the video here:
Ultra Realistic Modern Warfare Game Features Awaiting Orders, Repairing Trucks - The Onion
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Some Green Arrow
The main draw of both of these heroes, however, is that they're more based on reality than the Superman's and Green Lanterns of the world. This is where the fraternity and similarities between Arrow and Batman end however. While Batman has a huge following and large multimedia presence Green Arrow's appearances have been limited to comic books and Smallville. On the one hand this means that those of us who like the character get nerd cred for being fans of a more obscure character but on the other hand there is always the latent possibility that the book won't sell enough and get canceled. Batman doesn't get canceled.
Thus there is no list of old video games in which Green Arrow has appeared, no beloved classic that made him thousands of fans, no beloved classic to look back upon and remember what a long tradition of Green Arrow video games there is. Nope, none of that. BUT because it can't all be Batman and Superman DC recently made Green Arrow a playable character in its MMORPG DC Universe Online. So now do we not only finally get to see Olly in video game form but we also get to play as him in an online multiplayer full of thousands of Batman's. For a small fee. Woo Hoo!
My cynicism is unwarranted. I don't play MMORPG's so I can't appreciate their awesomeness, but I do appreciate DC finally doing something with my favourite character. And for that here's a gallery of screens from the game. This probably won't lead to a blockbuster movie deal (though I could see Olive Queen in the Nolan Batman...) but its a step up from the usual. For now it's probably for the best that he remain a cult favourite, overexposure has a way of ruining obscure characters, right Deadpool?
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Low Low Prices
I was at REDACTED today and stumbled across the video game section. Not knowing that they actually carried video games I decided to see if they had any good deals. Man was I in for a surprise! if you're looking for a copy of NHL '07 look no further than REDACTED, its not on sale but as you can see the everyday low price is impossible to pass up.
Ok so $29.99 for a three year old game is not a good deal at all but it gives us a chance to have some fun. By the way, if you look for a bigger reason why REDACTED is gonna go under I wish you good luck. Lets look at some fun facts.
- This game was released on September 26th 2006, which not only means that it just turned three years old, it also means that its been at that store for three years. I'm uncomfortable with anything thats been in a store for that long.
- While Alexander Ovechkin still plays for the Washington Capitals the team no longer wears that particular uniform. Its a great sweater, that I actually own, but its outdated, the Caps went to this design in 2007. The entire league's look was overhauled, in fact, as all teams moved to new Reebok Edge uniforms, most of which were different than in previous years so the Caps arent the only team with an outdated uniform, they're all outdated.
- As of this writing the game is available on Amazon for $2.46 used, and as low as $6.99 new. I actually purchased it last year for $7.98 at Target. There have been three new NHL games since the release of 07 (that would be 08, 09 and the recently released 10), only the latest version of the game is more than $29.99 on Amazon.
- The number one movie the week the game was released was "The Covenant" which I've never heard of and the week after that it was "Gridiron Gang" which, ironically, is on FX right now. The number one single at the time was Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack".
- George W. Bush was still President, the recession has not started, the median price for a home was still on the rise, Italy had just won the 2006 World Cup, Harry Potter had not been concluded yet, Easy Tiger had not been released yet, and Michael Jackson still had a few years to live.
The point of all this nonsense is this. Technology moves much more rapidly now than it did in the past, therefore most technologies become obsolete pretty quickly. Nothing has a steeper depreciation scale than a sports game, this can be easily seen in the quantity and prices of used games at brick and mortar game stores.
The fact that REDACTED still has this game at or near the original price speaks volumes of exactly how much this store is disconnected from reality. If they cant keep control of their inventories (because this game should have been gone long ago) or their prices (because if its still there it needs to be on clearance) then how can we expect them to compete, at least as far as electronics, with stores that do keep track of this stuff?
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Coming Together
The Beatles Rockband will arrive in a matter of days. After the controversies regarding the songlist, the price, the obtaining of the licenses and the hype its a bit hard to believe that in a matter of days we will be able to enjoy the experience promised by Harmonix.
For a few days now the PR machine for the game has been activated: in-store demos, television ads all in an effort to increase the hype, maybe even to let some oblivious people know that there is, in fact, a Beatles game coming. Like the preview trailers and the gameplay the actual commercial is a thing of beauty.
I guess the reason why I, and probably many more people, enjoy the commercial so much is because of the way old Beatles footage has been cleaned up, showing the Beatles in HD for the first time ever. Lets not forget that people who saw the Beatles live in their prime become fewer by the day, the only images we have of them are grainy videos and grainy pictures which make the whole thing seem like something unreal, something out of a distant history.
The ad brings the Abbey Road Beatles back to life, it gives us our best opportunity to see the group in person, gives us our best images of the group ever. Its pretty amazing, especially when you hear "Come Together" accompanying it. Sure we've heard Beatles songs in ads on tv before but only cover versions. In short, it makes you want to buy the game.
But its also kinda freaky. Two of the guys are dead and bringing them back to life in this manner is a bit like creating freaky robots or talking wax figures or some crazy automata of John Lennon and George Harrison. Then at the :17 second mark you get that image up there of a very happy John...should he be that happy? they tried to pull at the heart strings, and they were successful but they might have been a bit too successful.
Probably not though, its a great ad for what looks to be a great game one which if my band members cared for the Beatles as much as I do I'd probably have on pre-order right now.
By the way, the best part of the video? at around the :09 second mark, George Harrison checking out one of the guitar controllers. I'm sure more than one person has chocked up watching this thing.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
King of Fighters :(
Babbages E.B Games the other day since I had some disposable income and had heard that they sometimes carry SNES games (though they're mostly sports related) and was surprised to find that King of Fighters XII had already come out, excited I checked the price tag and decided that I did not have that much disposable income and promptly set it back down. I then proceeded to buy this instead.
I realized that I had not seen any actual reviews of the game yet, the previews all focused on how pretty the all-new hand drawn artwork is and while that certainly is the case it was still possible for such a good looking game to suck. And apparently it does.
The first place I looked for a review was the AV Club, the serious wing of The Onion whose reviews have gotten me down to the theaters to watch such films as The Wrestler, Away We Go and a small indy film called Watchmen. In short, I hold their reviews in high regard simply because their tastes mostly agree with mine.
I did find the KOF review and it's not pretty. The game is rushed, its missing some key characters, it has a small roster for a 3 on 3 game, its a money grab, there are too few stages and:
"Even worse, if you aren’t into online play, there’s little comfort to be found in the game’s single-player campaign, a five-stage time-trial championship that can be beaten in 10 minutes, tops. The tournament is interspersed with up-to-the-minute action-news coverage that has the audacity to imply excitement, but is completely generic and unrelated to your gameplay."Brutal. I am no longer looking forward to this game and I'm not sure I can deal with that. Like I've said tons of time I love pretty art but do I love it enough to spend $60 on a mediocre game? no, $20? probably not, it is therefore entirely possible that I'll have to wait at least a year before it goes below that threshold.
What's even worse is that SNK seems to be missing more often then not when it comes to releasing games on the newer consoles. The Maximum Impact games are horrible, the older fighters are...older and now that the supposed saviour has been released and has failed to do what SFIV did for the Street Fighter franchise the future simply isnt looking too bright for the company. The franchise might have a rabid fanbase but how many lemons can that fanbase suffer through? You get one more chance SNK, make it count.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
More Disappointment
Someone leaked 24 more songs from the new Guitar Hero 5. This list sucks even more than the previous one. This one includes some of the artists I was most anxious to find out about, namely MMJ, The White Stripes, Sonic Youth, but the songs for each group leave a lot to be desired. No Wordless Chorus, no Seven Nation Army.
Again, not that these songs suck (at least not most of them) I mean Lithium live? thats gonna be a trip, but if we're gonna get only one song for each band lets get a consensus going, lets get the most representative song. But enough of the bitching, heres the list and heres hoping the next leak will redeem these last two, if not then we'll wait for The Beatles Rockband.
Attack! Attack! UK - "You And Me"
Bon Jovi - "You Give Love A Bad Name"
Darker My Love - "Blue Day"
The Duke Spirit - "Send A Little Love Token"
Elton John - "Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)"
Face To Face - "Disconnected"
Garbage - "Only Happy When It Rains"
Kaiser Chiefs - "Never Miss A Beat"
Kiss - "Shout It Out Loud"
Love and Rockets - "Mirror People"
My Morning Jacket - "One Big Holiday"
Nirvana - "Lithium (Live)"
The Police - "So Lonely"
Rammstein – "Du Hast"
The Rolling Stones - "Sympathy For The Devil"
Sonic Youth - "Incinerate"
Screaming Trees - "Nearly Lost You"
Sublime - "What I Got"
The Sword - "Maiden, Mother & Crone"
Thin Lizzy - "Jailbreak"
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - "American Girl"
The White Stripes - "Blue Orchid"
Info, as always, from Kotaku, picture from Flickr.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
List of Songs
The nice people at Guitar Hero have released a preliminary list of songs that will appear in the fifth installment of the series. Now, this player of old video games finds it difficult to get into the new generation games (they're way too complicated) but I have made obvious exceptions for two kinds of games: fighters (which are essentially 2-D anyways) and music games. So the initial announcement of bands to be included in GH V got me way too excited, the list released today? not so much.
The preliminary list of songs is as follows:
Band Of Horses - "Cigarettes, Wedding Bands" ?
Beastie Boys - "Gratitude"
Beck - "Gamma Ray"
Billy Squier - "Lonely Is The Night"
Blur - "Song 2"
Bob Dylan - "All Along The Watchtower"
Children Of Bodom - "Done With Everything, Die For Nothing"
Coldplay - "In My Place"
Darkest Hour - "Demon(s)"
David Bowie - "Fame"
Deep Purple - "Woman From Tokyo ('99 Remix)"
Elliott Smith - "L.A."
Iggy Pop - "Lust For Life (Live)"
Jeff Beck - "Scatterbrain (Live)"
John Mellencamp - "Hurts So Good"
Kings Of Leon - "Sex On Fire"
Queens Of The Stone Age - "Make It Wit Chu"
Rose Hill Drive - "Sneak Out" ?
Santana - "No One To Depend On (Live)"
The Bronx - "Six Days A Week" ?
Thrice - "Deadbolt"
Tom Petty - "Runnin' Down A Dream"
Vampire Weekend - "A-Punk"
Wolfmother - "Back Round"
Not that these songs are horrible (on the contrary) but its a bit disheartening to think that that is the Bob Dylan song, that that is the Blur song, that that is the Bowie song. Guitar Hero has a history of including some deep tracks but when you only get one song per artist one has to hope that its one of the artists top one or two songs. Again, not that All Along the Watchtower and Fame suck but they're most certainly NOT Like a Rolling Stone, Rock n Roll Suicide of Changes.
The list contains a lot of standards as well as songs from bands that apparently are the next big thing (that I havent even heard of to be honest) and it does leave enough room to be hopeful that the White Stripes, My Morning Jacket and Gorillaz songs will be exceptional but it also leaves room for them not, well, not be.
