•Naruto Ultimate Ninja 3 •Obscure: The Aftermath •Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure
My pick this week goes to Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword. Now, before all you Final Fantasy fangirls start crying becuase I didn't pick your OMFGKAWAIIBISHIE ^__^ game, let me just say that I would never award FF7 or FF anything, other than "Series Tony Most Hates". Now to the pick at hand, Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword for the Nintendo DS. This game, while lacking the graphical prowess of Sigma, Black, and II, it definitely looks like a well thought out and well executed version of the game that you can put in your pocket and play anywhere. The game really seems to live up to the high bar set by the console iterations of the series. The critics so far seem to agree with my analysis, as it has been getting very positive scores across the board.
In addition to Dragon Sword, be on the look out for Dark Sector and Viking: Battle for Asgard. Dark Sector may end up being meh, but Viking looks like it could be a real surprise. The first review I've seen of that game gave it a 9.5/10. Be sure to check out the other reviews of it as the week progresses, because this might wind up being a game to buy. The fact that it's based on the Vikings only makes me more intrigued, because Vikings are freaking badass.
Also, I have a correction from last week's list. World Championship Cards for PSP has been delayed until April. Sorry for disappointing all less than two of you who are looking forward to this game.
Check back here next week to find out what games are begging for your money!
This week is actually a damn good one for new games considering we're right in the middle of March. If you have a PS3, 360, DS, or PS2, there's a great game coming out. The other consoles, not so much unless Sega Superstars Tennis completely beats my expectations (which it won't). So without further ado, here's what you can buy this week:
Playstation 3
Xbox 360
Nintendo Wii
•Condemned 2: Bloodshot •Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds •Karaoke Revolution: American Idol Encore •Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 (Also available in a Limited Edition) •Sega Superstars Tennis
•Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 (Also available in a Limited Edition) •Sega Superstars Tennis
•George of the Jungle •Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 •Sega Superstars Tennis •Worms: A Space Oddity •WWII Aces
PSP
Nintendo DS
Playstation 2
•World Championship Cards
(No highlight game here this week. I'm not going to tell you to waste your money on World Championship Cards. Go buy God of War, Wipeout Pulse, or Patapon instead.)
•Diary Girl •Fantasy Aquarium •Go Pets: Vacation Island •Lost in Blue 3 •Sega Superstar Tennis
•Metal Gear Solid: Essential Collection •Samurai Warriors 2: Xtreme Legends •Sega Superstar Tennis •Singstar 90s (Also available as a bundle with 2 microphones)
My overall pick of the week goes to Metal Gear Solid: Essential Collection. This package is a collection of the first three Metal Gear Solid games in a specially priced $30 bundle in preparation for the release of the highly anticipated (50GB, dual layer Blu-ray) PS3 exclusive Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of The Patriots which comes out in June. The Essential Collection is a fantastic deal if you are new to the MGS series, have only one or two games in the series, or are a completist. It's really hard to say no to $30 for three of the greatest games ever.
Check back here next week to find out what games are begging for your money!
They mailed Nathaniel a care package filled with all kinds of Halo/Bungie related goodies. Here's a list of what he got from the House of Halo...
Legendary Edition Helmet signed by most, if not all, of Bungie
Halo 3 Soundtrack (two disc) signed by Marty O'Donnel
Bungie Jacket
Bungie T-Shirt
Halo 3 Messenger Bag
Two Halo 3 Limited Edition Wireless Controllers (both versions)
Halo 3 Faceplate and Skins for Xbox 360
Four McFarlane Action Figures
Halo Actionclix Preview pack
Halo Actionclix Game Pack 4
Halo 3 Wall Graffix
Halo 3: Ghosts of Onyx Novel
Halo Graphic Novel
Halo 3 Wristband
Halo 3 Hackeysack
In addition Nathaniel has heard from John Porcaro at Microsoft who apologized about the situation and promised that they will get him something just as awesome as his signed 360. As of right now, he has not received anything from Microsoft.
In the last article I posted about this, there was some question from the commenters about whether or not this story was fake. Well, you're wrong, because it most definitely is real. Nathaniel's friends and the people that have signed this 360 have come forward confirmed it. So yup, they really did erase what was on his 360.
This story is about a man named Nathaniel. Nathaniel is a huge Xbox 360 fan who pre ordered his console months before launch. Since getting the console, he has collected signatures from several people at Microsoft, Bungie, and Rooster Teeth (the creators of the hit Halo machinima series, Red vs Blue). As you can see, this is not just a few people signing it, but most of the console had some kind of signature on it. Heck, the bottom of the console had a drawing of Master Chief by the artist of the Red vs Blue comic.
Imagine his shock when the console died. Now Nathaniel was faced with a tough situation. He had to decide whether to take off the case and see what he could do with repairing it on his own...or send it off to Microsoft. It was not an easy choice but he opted for the latter because the first would void the warranty.
Before he sent the console off to Microsoft for repair, Nathaniel contacted them over the phone, explained the situation to them, and asked that he receive his exact same console back. Microsoft obliged and gave him a reference number to include when shipping the console off to them.
He sent his unique Xbox 360 along with a letter reiterating his situation and his wishes to have all these signatures preserved to Microsoft. Everything seemed to be in good shape...
Some weeks later, Nathaniel received his console back from repair. He opened up the box it came back in and saw his 360 was sent back. It had the exact same serial number, but it was missing something. What exactly was it missing? Yup, the signatures.
He couldn't believe it! All those signatures that meant so much to him...gone. Oh, but they didn't just replace the case, they SCRUBBED THE SIGNATURES OUT! You can tell because there is marker smudge visible on the 360.
(Click the image for a higher resolution version)
Since the original posting of the story, there have been some additional developments. Many have wondered why he decided to share this tale of woe with the internet. Well, he states that it's simply a cautionary tale for 360 owners who send in their consoles for repair. He regrets sending in his console in the first place, but he's angry because he was ASSURED by Microsoft that they would take care of his system and send it back to him how it was received. After some time trying to contact Microsoft, the company has finally responded to Nathaniel and apologized to him and stated that they are working to correct this issue. Nice of them to look into this, but it should have never happened in the first place.
Microsoft has the stage for the keynote this year at GDC, and here's a rundown of what they stated:
Seven games sold over one million units each on 360 last holiday season. Impressive numbers I must say.
"Games sell better on 360 because they play better on 360." HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Shut it, asshole! Don't take Sony's arrogance of years past because that is not true at all, my friend. Oh well, yay self promotion.
Over 1 billion achievements have been unlocked on Xbox Live. Half of those by Tynstar.
Gamers have spent over $250 million on Xbox Live Marketplace on gaming related content.
There are over 100,000 pieces of saved film content for Halo 3 uploaded each day by game players. That's 30% videos than what YouTube gets daily.
Three million songs for Rock Band have been bought.
Xbox Live Community Games is announced. This new platform is about "democratizing" game distriubtion and allowing everyone to publish games. One of the games shown is called JellyCar, and goddamn does it look AWESOME. They show off some other ones that I haven't seen pictures of yet, but JellyCar is just too awesome for me to care. Demos of the games shown are up on Xbox Live Marketplace now.
Guess what? Games are coming to the dead MP3 player Zune. You'll be able to play custom XNA games on Windows, Xbox, and Zune. Most impressive, but who the hell actually owns a Zune (or for that matter wants one)?
AAAAAAAAAAAND Michael Catz, president of Epic Games comes out on stage to show off the next version of the Unreal Engine and talks about Gears of war...where does this lead? Nowhere. Just a little tech demo. Nothing about Gears of War 2 announced...YET
Exclusive GTA4 downloadable episodes this fall. Take that PS3 owners!
Tomonobu Itagaki shows off Ninja Gaiden 2...and the controller fails and he has to reconnect it. Funny stuff, funny stuff. Ninja Gaiden 2 will allow you to take videos and upload them to the internet just like in Halo 3. Again, a 360 exclusive, coming out June 3.
Peter Molyneux comes out to demonstrate Fable 2. One of the new features is a game that's like roulette and craps combined. But, the thing is that this game will be released on Xbox Live Arcade a few weeks before Fable 2 comes out and you'll be able to take the money won in that game and import it into Fable 2. Very very neat idea if I must say so myself. Another new feature: co-op mode. You will be able to call up any character in Fable 2 by logging in as that user on Xbox Live. So, basically, if you want to go play co-op on Fable 2 with a friend, you don't need a memory. You can just login on your friend's system and your character will be imported into the game. Now, if you get any gold/experience playing co-op, you can take it back to your own game. Nice touch. He shows off the combat system.
At the end of the show, just as everyone thinks it's going to end, the screen turns red, shows some guy fighting a locust and chainsawing him to death, CliffyB comes out with a chainsaw and says "GEARS OF WAR 2 WILL BE EXCLUSIVE TO XBOX 360 THIS NOVEMBER." Wow. I sure as hell didn'tsee that one coming...
Overall, meh, I don't care about MS so nothing here really struck me as being compelling, except the whole Xbox Live Community Games thing. I like how that might shape up to be. Otherwise they made me roll my eyes with that whole "games play better on 360" trash and laugh at the Zune.
Remember, this week is GDC and the main show starts today. Well, here's the frist big news of the show: Nintendo has revealed the release dates for both Wii Fit and WiiWare, and oddly enough they are within a week of each other!
WiiWare hits first on May 12. The games that will launch on the service are not known yet, but Nintendo stated in their press release that some of the early WiiWare games would be Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life As A King, LostWinds, and an episodic game series from one of my favorite developers, Telltale Games. Other known WiiWare games are Bomberman, Gravitronix, Pokemon Farm, Dr. Mario & Bacteria Extermination, IGF Grand Prize finalist World of Goo, and the amazing looking Eternity's Child. Pricing or size on the games are unknown, but I imagine we'll hear more as launch gets closer.
Nintendo has also announced a May 19 release date (just six days after WiiWare!) for their bathroom scale/game combo, Wii Fit. If you've been living under a rock for the past year and don't know what Wii Fit is, it's basically trying to further the Wii's reputation as a fitness machine (and as a gimmicky minigame machine). Honestly, I don't care one bit about Wii Fit, so here's a link to Wikipedia's article on it.
I'm really excited for WiiWare as this could be the breakthrough that the Wii needs to appeal to me. What I really hope to see is indie developers dream up imaginative ways to use the Wiimote and make innovative games that Nintendo would never think of. Hopefully we'll see more of a indie-driven, innovative and creative environment on there rather than a bunch of existing franchises made for the service. It's looking to be a mix of both with estabilished franchises like Pokemon and Final Fantasy, but those games will be mixed with stuff like Eternity's Child. If we get more games that are like that, then the WiiWare games might possibly end up being better than the actual disc-based games. One can only hope, I guess.
Anyways, be sure to keep it on RFG for all the important GDC news.
Many have doubted this event's authenticity, however a team of four enterprising Auburn University students have decided to team up and make E.T.'s March, a documentary about them trying to locate the landfill where Atari buried all these games. Together, the four students will travel from Auburn, Alabama to El Paso, Texas, which is where the Atari plant was located. From there, they will travel from El Paso to the landfill in Alamogordo, recreating the path that the semitrucks took, while in the meantime taking in the video game culture of the United States.
Judging by the website, they seem very determined to locate this goldmine of video gaming history, and the documentary should prove to be a very interesting watch. Now, I haven't seen King of Kong, the other video game documentary that's been making waves lately, but I can imagine that E.T.'s March must have been inspired by it and the critical acclaim it has been receiving.
The filming of the documentary will take place from March 15-23 and will be released over the internet sometime this summer. There are no plans for a theatrical or DVD release stated on the website, but I assume that they would be willing to do something like that if the right distributor steps in and funds them.
While you're waiting for the film to be released, here's a great, well-researched site all about the E.T. burial story: http://atari.digital-madman.com/
LittleBigPlanet Create-A-Level PLAY, CREATE, and SHARE with LittleBigPlanet! Imagine a world with no limits – a world that’s yours to shape, build and explore. Imagine the possibilities, then jump head first into the reality. LittleBigPlanet puts the power of absolute creation into your own hands. If you can see it, you can enhance it. If you can’t see it, you can invent it. File size: 79 MB (HD)
I fell out of my chair and immediately ran to my PS3 to download that new video. A few minutes later, I was basking in the glory that is LittleBigPlanet, and the new footage.
Now, what you're seeing in this new video is a level being built. Specifically, the level that Sony had up in their booth at CES a few weeks ago. Sure it's not anything too new, but as I said, anything LBP related makes me happy. Hopefully this will brighten up your day a little as well with that damn awesome Go! Team song and footage of the future PS3 classic.
Do you like football video games? Do you like EA Sports' Madden franchise? If you don't and you wish that NFL 2Kx would return, I've got some bad news for you. EA Sports, the NFL, and the NFL Players Association have extended the current video game exclusivity contract by three years. Now there will be no other pro football game other than the one EA makes until the end of the 2012 season, which ends in February of 2013.
Yup. The only professional football game on the market for the next five years will be Madden. Sad news for those of you who loved 2K's football series before the contract in 2005, or if you liked NFL Blitz when it had pro teams.
Peter Moore, head of EA Sports (formerly head of Microsoft's Gaming Division, and Sega), stated in a press release: "For nearly two decades, EA SPORTS has been bringing sports fans closer to the great game of football through the breakthrough interactive experiences of our videogames. Game quality is our top priority, and we're committed to pushing our gameplay innovation, connecting football fans via rich online experiences and delivering the most visually stunning sports games on the market." Yeah. Game quality is their top priority...
In that same press release, the head of NFL Ventures, Eric Grubman declared "This is all about bringing authenticity and realism to NFL videogames...EA SPORTS continually works to maintain the cutting edge for NFL products across a variety of gaming platforms. We like the fact that they never rest." You know who else never rested? 2K Sports and Sony's 989 Sports. They both had good games (in fact, 989 was reworking NFL Gameday before the EA contract), but unfortunately, the NFL license had to go to the highest bidder.
However, the most worrysome thing to arise out of this development is a quote Peter Moore said in an interview with Kotaku: "Sports has that opportunity... to have levels or different types of teams delivered digitally, but I think we are a long way away from that...The model we currently have, where we have the game on the disc and updates every few weeks and some micro-transactions works for us. We continue to look at that, but we're still away from truly episodic." Oh boy, that might mean what all of you here love so much, DOWNLOADABLE EPISODIC CONTENT! Why do I think he's alluding to a future in which you will not buy Madden at a store, but rather over the internet and bulding your own game? An interesting concept, but I don't think it would work well with a football game, nor would it go over well with many gamers.
So, are you ready for some EA controlled football?!
Why hello everyone! Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tony. You may recognize me from many blog articles here on RF Generation, and as the resident Sony Fanboy on the forums. However today I am entering a brave new world: the weekly features! Run for cover, hide the children, and lock the doors, because this week we are being invaded by Headcrabs, Vortigaunts, and Bullsquids. That's right, our featured game is Half-Life.
Oh but since I'm doing the features, we have to make this huge (like my ego)! Why not include all the expansion packs and one of my favorite online games ever while we're at it? So, that's why we are featuring Half-Life 1 Anthology for the PC. This package bundles together the original Half-Life, the brillant expansion packs (Opposing Force and Blue Shift), and the ridiculously fun Team Fortress Classic. Think of this as an old-school version of Valve's recently released Orange Box, but without a kickass puzzle game. If you've been reading the Gaming Diary thread in the forum, you'll notice that I've been slowing making my way through the Half-Life series again and am really enjoying the experience so far. Now, Half-Life is out of print, but thankfully you can track it down (sans expansion packs) on Playstation 2, (legalishly) on Dreamcast, or you can get it on Steam.
Let's take the featured hardware in a totally different direction. This week, the featured hardware is the Philips CDI 910. I've always wanted to see the CD-i featured since it has brought us so many classics like Hotel Mario (and the , , and the whole YouTube Poop thing.
What about the featured image, you ask? Why don't we keep the trend alive and feature the cover image for last year's smash-hit compilation The Orange Box for the Xbox 360? If you were paying attention earlier on in this article, you might figure out that The Orange Box is a compilation, just like our featured game of the week. However, The Orange Box bundles together Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One, Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Portal, and Team Fortress 2 into one great value of a game. Also, don't think that you can only get this little joyful bundle of sunshine in video game form on the 360, because it's also on the PC and the Playstation 3.
And finally, the featured collection this week belongs to someone who has never played Half-Life becuase he's too busy going nuts over Halo. Who might this be? Well it's none other than our friend OatBob! He's got a very extensive collection of all sorts of games for various systems, but he has a soft spot in his heart for the Dreamcast, the same system Half-Life got cancelled on. In fact, that soft spot has led to him having a goal of collecting every single US Dreamcast game and all of their variants. While he has that nice Dreamcast collection, he needs to play our featured game of the week...really badly. If he doesn't, I might just send Nihilanth after him.
So, my first time doing features has come to a close. I enjoyed it and maybe I'll do it again in the future, that is if you'll let me.
Until next time...Channel 3...leave it on there. There's some good stuff coming up.
Valve has announced that they will be distributing Dylan Fitterer's critically acclaimed AudioSurf on its digital distribution service, Steam.
AudioSurf, for those of not in the loop, is an independently developed game that allows you to "ride your music". In essence, it's like Amplitude crossed with a puzzle game. However, you can import your own music or play songs off of a CD, it will create a chart based on the difficulty you choose. In the game, you try and match three blocks of the same color in a row, or go for combos as your ship flys along to the music. I played the game last month when it was in open beta, and I absolutely fell in love with it. Apparently other people feel the same way as I do, because the game is up for three awards, including the Seumas McNally Grand Prize, at the Independent Games Festival main competition, which will be held on February 20 at the Game Developer Conference.
AudioSurf will be released over Steam on Friday and will sell for $10, but since Valve kicks all kinds of ass, they will give you a dollar off the price if you preorder the game before Friday. BUT WAIT! With the purchase of AudioSurf, Valve will also throw in The Orange Box soundtrack, which you can use in the game! That's right, you will be able to ride through Still Alive, 9000 Degrees Kelvin, or one of the many other selections from The Orange Box in the game when you buy it from Steam! Also, the game will make use of Steamworks, allowing support for Steam Achievements that will be on your profile page.
Not convinced? There will be a demo available on Friday so you can make up your mind.
So, dear readers, fire up Steam and get your credit card out! What's that? You don't have Steam?! Well, then go make a free account over at www.steampowered.com! Or, if you have an ATI video card go here to get some free games when you sign up (Nvidia owners, you go here and get more than ATI owners...sorry). Oh and while you're at it, join the RF Generation group on Steam so we can share achievements!
Professor Layton and the Curious Village, developed by Level-5 (Dragon Quest 8 and 9, Rogue Galaxy, and Dark Cloud) and published by Nintendo, is a point and click adventure along the same lines as Phoenix Wright, Hotel Dusk, Touch Detective, and many others on the DS, but it's unlike any of them. The best way I can describe the game is Brain Age on crack with a storyline. The puzzles in this game are some of the most difficult I've ever encountered in any puzzle games and totally make this game worth getting, but there is a whole lot more to this game than just the puzzles.
However allow me to explain the puzzles in this game for a moment, because they are pretty special. The main reason this game exists is because of Level-5 President Akihiro Hino's love of Head Gymnastics, a long-running Japanese series of puzzle books. Hino wanted to turn these puzzles into a video game, so he got in touch with Akira Tigo, the 82-year old author of the series and professor at Chiba University in Japan. Together, they teamed up to create more than 30 new puzzles specifically for the game, and Professor Tago allowed the team at Level-5 to use any of his 2,000 puzzles in the game. Now, Level-5 could have just released a puzzle compilation like Professor Ryuta Kawashima and Nintendo's popular Brain Age series, but they decided to take it a step further and add a story on top of it because, in Hino's words, "Prof. Tago is one of the originators of the genre, we didn’t want to be buried amongst many other similar games." Great decision, great decision. And one that caused Japanese gamers to buy it in droves. Now, Nintendo has made the decision to bring the first game in the trilogy over to the United States.
The story is about a world renowned professor, Archeologist, and puzzle aficionado named Layton and his young apprentice, Luke. The pair is summoned to St. Mystere by the family of the recently deceased village billionaire, Baron Augustus Reinhold, who has left his whole estate to whomever can find the Golden Apple he has hidden somewhere in the village. In addition to the mystery of just where this Golden Apple is located, the townspeople are fond of puzzles and challenge each other with them. That is how most of the game's puzzles are found, by talking to citizens who talk to you and give you information about what they know...and puzzles.
I know that sounds like a minigame compilation with a story, but the thing is that Professor Layton is so much more than that. Almost every aspect of this game is a puzzle, from the various mysteries you'll have to investigate, to the collecting of painting pieces, and even decorating your hotel rooms, this game is just filled to the brim with all sorts of puzzles. As I've stated, the puzzles in this game can be very difficult at times. For example, there are typical pattern matching puzzles, but then there are ones that ask you "What is necessary for human life, appears in almost every house you've visited, and decreases in amount the longer it's around? Oh, and express your answer by moving one matchstick in a series of matches that we have laid out for you." The latter type of puzzles, while very clever and challenging, tend to stump me easily and impede my progress in the game. Damn you Level-5!
The game also is a technical masterpiece, which is surprising considering just what kind of game it is. There are many sequences of fully animated video, the cutscenes have full voice acting, and the music is just incredible, and it all sounds amazing through headphones and even on the built-in speakers. However, I really wish they would have added voice acting for all the text in the game, because it's jarring to go from an animated sequence with voice acting to a Phoenix Wright styled text adventure.
Now, this game is a puzzle game, and will probably lose its appeal once you've learned how to solve everything, but Nintendo offers you a solution to that problem: free puzzle downloads every week over Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection! That's right, you'll be able to download an all-new brainteaser each week in order to keep you engaged in the game. The weekly puzzles do not offer you any bonus coins for use in the game, but will keep you amused for 20 minutes or so every week. It isn't much, but at least it will keep you thinking about the series until Nintendo brings the next game over (please?).
Overall, the game is an extremely challenging compilation of puzzles wrapped in a pretty good story with an awesome art style. However, the replayability issues may keep you from picking up the game at its current price of $30. I also have minor complaints about the small amount of video and voice acting, but I can deal with it as I'm a veteran of Hotel Dusk and Phoenix Wright. Keeping this in mind, I award the game...
9.3/10
Professor Layton officially comes out for the Nintendo DS tomorrow, but I managed to get my copy at Best Buy this past Wednesday. And guess what? I have reviewed this game before every major website on the internet!
Score one for RF Generation!
If you aren't convinced that you should get the game, try out the demo over at the official website (www.professorlaytonds.com)
Do you have an Xbox 360 Core or Arcade model? Did you expect it to be able to do what the higher end Xbox 360s can? You did? Well, guess what? You're wrong. Dead wrong.
If you buy Burnout Paradise, the latest installment in Criterion's critically acclaimed series, you'll be forced to play it offline, unless you pay $100 to Microsoft to buy a hard drive.
"Wait a minute? Are you saying what I think you're saying?! Burnout Paradise on the Xbox 360 REQUIRES a hard drive in order to play online?!" Yes. That is exactly what I said. No typos. You MUST have a hard drive in order to play this game online. "But I thought Microsoft said 'every game will work with every Xbox 360 system'?" Yeah they did, but did you see the part that said, "But just like some games will require you to have a Memory Unit to save games, some games will require you to have a Hard Drive to experience them." OH MY GOD! NO WAY!
What does this mean? It means that if you bought a 360 Core or Arcade, you just got ripped-off big time, but not by Criterion/EA, but by Microsoft.
I know, I'm a Sony fan and tend to gravitate to them, but hear me out. Games these days need a lot of space to run, especially big open-world games like Burnout Paradise. Microsoft should have had the foresight to see that this would become a problem and launched the Core model with a 20GB hard drive and the Premium one with a 40GB or so. By not doing that, they basically limited what the developers can do with the system and make them figure out other ways of caching and quick access.
This isn't the first time that the hard drive has been required on the 360 (think of all the DLC for various games, video downloads, Final Fantasy XI, and Oblivion GOTY), but it is perhaps the most notable since Burnout has huge mainstream and casual gamer popularity, and the people who buy this game might not be the ones that have the Elite Super Deluxe model with all the bells and whistles.
The 360's lack of a standard hard drive is also holding back the game industry because now it's getting to the point where the PS3 versions of games are being effected by Microsoft's boneheaded decision. Rockstar and Capcom have already expressed problems with the lack of a hard drive, and I'm sure more are to follow.
But remember, this is one (admittedly biased) guy's viewpoint. So, readers, I ask you this: what's the solution to this problem? Should devs just leave behind Core and Arcade owners? Or what should happen here?
Lately there's been somewhat of an influx of gaming news, but nothing worth writing a huge post about. What should a good little blogger such as myself to do cope with this situation? Why not write an article with brief overviews of some of the news stories that I've found interesting lately.
EA Sports announces a new arcadey boxing game called Facebreaker (developed by EA Canada) for all next-gen systems. It looks like (to steal a line from 1up) a cross between Ready 2 Rumble (one of my favorite boxing games of all-time) and Team Fortress 2 (possibly my favorite online game ever). EA Sports head honcho (and former Xbox and Sega leader), Peter Moore said "Arcade boxing takes me back to my roots in this industry, and this game signals our shift to adding more approachable fun to our product lineup." Approachable fun? Wii Sports boxing esque controls: CONFIRMED! Now, we've seen arcadey boxing games before, but have any of them had "real-time facial deformation"? I think not.
GamePro inquires: "Which system's controller has the longest battery life?" The answer: Xbox 360 at almost 57 hours. Runner up is the Wii, clocking in at 37 hours. This leaves PS3 for last place at 19 hours, which I'm not going to dispute. That seems about right from experiences with my own PS3. However I must point out that for both the Wii and 360 controllers, standard batteries were used, and that using rechargable batteries in either one of them could lead to decreased battery life. Interesting comparison, but flawed, not surprising coming from GamePro.
Who says the PS3 isn't doing well? It sold 1.5 million more units than the 360 worldwide last year. And people say the PS3 is in trouble...
Miss out on previous the Metal Gear Solid games? Now's your chance to play catch-up as Play-Asia has Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection up for pre order in the US! The collection includes the PS1 original along with the directors cuts of both Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance and Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, all for only $35! If this listing is accurate, then sign me up! I have MGS2 and MGS3, but not the later versions of them. However, what I am wondering about this package is if it includes the VR Missions for the first MGS or the Document of Metal Gear Solid 2 thing. I really hope so, but if not that's ok since the pack is still a great deal for some of the greatest games ever made.
Nintendo truly has a great thing going with their Virtual Console service. You are able to get games from a wide variety of classic and retro systems such as the NES, Genesis, TurboGrafx, and Neo Geo. However, some systems are missing from the lineup. But don't you fear! Sega is here to save the day!
That's right, Sega has announced that they will soon be bringing over games from their 1986 system, the Sega Master System, to Nintendo's retro game download service. The first games from the system being ported over to the Wii are Fantasy Zone (500 Wii Points), and Fist of the North Star (600 Wii Points). Both games will be hitting the Virtual console this February in Japan. There has been no announced date for when these would be coming to America or Europe, but I imagine it will be fairly soon after, most likely in March or April. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if Fist of the North Star stays in Japan due to licensing issues, but I'm sure Fantasy Zone will be coming to America/Europe.
But that's not all! Sega will also be bringing games for the Mark III and the Game Gear to Nintendo's Virtual Console as well! Alas, no game details have been announced yet.
So, kudos to Sega for keeping your retro systems alive through this new distribution channel! Hopefully this leads the way for 32x (and possibly Sega CD) games to be added to the Virtual Console repertoire.
My pick this week goes to Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword. Now, before all you Final Fantasy fangirls start crying becuase I didn't pick your OMFGKAWAIIBISHIE ^__^ game, let me just say that I would never award FF7 or FF anything, other than "Series Tony Most Hates". Now to the pick at hand, Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword for the Nintendo DS. This game, while lacking the graphical prowess of Sigma, Black, and II, it definitely looks like a well thought out and well executed version of the game that you can put in your pocket and play anywhere. The game really seems to live up to the high bar set by the console iterations of the series. The critics so far seem to agree with my analysis, as it has been getting very positive scores across the board.
My overall pick of the week goes to Metal Gear Solid: Essential Collection. This package is a collection of the first three Metal Gear Solid games in a specially priced $30 bundle in preparation for the release of the highly anticipated (
As you remember, 
This story is about a man named Nathaniel. Nathaniel is a huge Xbox 360 fan who pre ordered his console months before launch. Since getting the console, he has collected signatures from several people at Microsoft, Bungie, and Rooster Teeth (the creators of the hit Halo machinima series, Red vs Blue). As you can see, this is not just a few people signing it, but most of the console had some kind of signature on it. Heck, the bottom of the console had a drawing of Master Chief by the artist of the Red vs Blue comic.
Microsoft has the stage for the keynote this year at GDC, and here's a rundown of what they stated:
Remember, this week is GDC and the main show starts today. Well, here's the frist big news of the show: Nintendo has revealed the release dates for both Wii Fit and WiiWare, and oddly enough they are within a week of each other!
We all know about 
Do you like football video games? Do you like EA Sports' Madden franchise? If you don't and you wish that NFL 2Kx would return, I've got some bad news for you. EA Sports, the NFL, and the NFL Players Association have extended the current video game exclusivity contract by three years. Now there will be no other pro football game other than the one EA makes until the end of the 2012 season, which ends in February of 2013.
Why hello everyone! Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tony. You may recognize me from many blog articles here on RF Generation, and as the resident Sony Fanboy on the forums. However today I am entering a brave new world: the weekly features! Run for cover, hide the children, and lock the doors, because this week we are being invaded by Headcrabs, Vortigaunts, and Bullsquids. That's right, our featured game is Half-Life.
Valve has announced that they will be distributing Dylan Fitterer's critically acclaimed 
Professor Layton and the Curious Village, developed by Level-5 (Dragon Quest 8 and 9, Rogue Galaxy, and Dark Cloud) and published by Nintendo, is a point and click adventure along the same lines as Phoenix Wright, Hotel Dusk, Touch Detective, and many others on the DS, but it's unlike any of them. The best way I can describe the game is Brain Age on crack with a storyline. The puzzles in this game are some of the most difficult I've ever encountered in any puzzle games and totally make this game worth getting, but there is a whole lot more to this game than just the puzzles.
The story is about a world renowned professor, Archeologist, and puzzle aficionado named Layton and his young apprentice, Luke. The pair is summoned to St. Mystere by the family of the recently deceased village billionaire, Baron Augustus Reinhold, who has left his whole estate to whomever can find the Golden Apple he has hidden somewhere in the village. In addition to the mystery of just where this Golden Apple is located, the townspeople are fond of puzzles and challenge each other with them. That is how most of the game's puzzles are found, by talking to citizens who talk to you and give you information about what they know...and puzzles.
The game also is a technical masterpiece, which is surprising considering just what kind of game it is. There are many sequences of fully animated video, the cutscenes have full voice acting, and the music is just incredible, and it all sounds amazing through headphones and even on the built-in speakers. However, I really wish they would have added voice acting for all the text in the game, because it's jarring to go from an animated sequence with voice acting to a Phoenix Wright styled text adventure.
Do you have an Xbox 360 Core or Arcade model? Did you expect it to be able to do what the higher end Xbox 360s can? You did? Well, guess what? You're wrong. Dead wrong.
Nintendo truly has a great thing going with their Virtual Console service. You are able to get games from a wide variety of classic and retro systems such as the NES, Genesis, TurboGrafx, and Neo Geo. However, some systems are missing from the lineup. But don't you fear! Sega is here to save the day!
