After reading a very interesting article in a Dutch games magazine I would like to know what you guys think that should be done in the future concerning the lenght of videogames.
[img align=right width=200]http://images.bit-tech.net/news_images/2008/06/warren-spector-100-hour-games-are-on-the-way-out/article_img.jpg[/img]At the Games Education Summit (Dallas) in July, Warren Spector (known for games like Wing Commander, Thief and Deux Ex; see picture) stated that 100-hours singleplayer games are a thing of the past. He also said that only 2% of the people who have played GTA4 actually finished it. If he means by "finished it" getting 100% complete, I'm sure it's even less.
RPGs are probably the "worst" kind of games when it comes to being overly lengthy. Recent games like The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion or Final Fantasy 12 come to mind. They often take up 60 hours to finish the main storyline alone and go well over 100 hours if you want to finish all sidequests, defeat all monsters and get that strongest weapon. (Don't get me wrong, I love RPGs)
As you all know, making videogames is no longer cheap. Especially with the next generation consoles and their fabulous physics and visuals, production times get longer and the costs are getting higher. Spending $40.000.000 to develop a videogame isn't anything spectacular anymore and companies are strugling to make a profit like they used to do 5-10 years ago. Especially when your game stands in the shadow of a Triple A title, sales can't always make up for the costs.
If most gamers stop playing GTA4 at 40%; that basically means 60% of the game's content is money down the drain.
Would you like to see shorter games, knowing that most (read: the not-so-hardcore) gamers don't finish these games? Wouldn't it be great if companies could make games for less money and therefor take some more risks? It would mean more diverse games for us for sure.
Do you really want the Full HD graphics and 7.1 surround? Maybe some gamers do, but the rest of us are forced to walk the same path. I wonder why nobody seems to have the guts to make an HD 16-bit style 2D RPG for Xbox360 or PS3. If the story was good and the gameplay rock-solid, wouldn't that make for an amazing game?
Note: I've reposted this on the forums because I wanted to make a poll about it. You can find the poll here.
The fall release season marches on this week...if you're a PS3/360 owner. The rest of you get nothing much at all. Here's the lineup:
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | •FaceBreaker
•Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
•NFL Head Coach 2009
•Rapala Fishing Frenzy
•Vampire Rain: Altered Species
| •FaceBreaker
•Infinite Undiscovery
•Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
•NFL Head Coach 2009
•Rapala Fishing Frenzy
•Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise
•Warhammer: Battle March | •Rapala Fishing Frenzy ($10 more than the PS3/360 version?!) | | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | | ... | •Picto Image | •Mercenaries 2: World in Flames |
 This is actually a pretty good week considering how early it is in the season. Mercenaries 2 is the sequel to the 2005 PS2/XBox original, and expands on its sandbox style of gameplay. This new installment features enhanced physics (powered by the ever-popular Havok engine), the ability to light things on fire, swimming (along with boats as an added vehicle type), air support, a grappling hook, and more. I haven't played the first game, but the new installment looks pretty neat.
Next up is a game that I have tried, Facebreaker. This is the first game to be published under EA's new label: EA Sports Freestyle. Freestyle, as explained by EA Sports head, Peter Moore, provides "a lighter gaming experience and an easier entry point into EA Sports." Enough with the businessy talk, the game is pretty damned fun based on the demo. It's a simplified version of EA's own Fight Night series but with cartoony characters and a humorous tone, much like Ready 2 Rumble for the Dreamcast. FaceBreaker is nothing outstanding, but it certainly should be worth getting when the price drops to around $20 or $30. If you're interested in the game, give the demo on PSN or Xbox Live a shot.
Next up: Infinite Undiscovery, the much anticipated ( ) Xbox 360 exclusive RPG from Square-Enix (that's something you don't see every day). I honestly don't care about this game, I only highlighted it for Square fanboys (the most annoying variety) so that they don't totally deride me and rip me to shreds.
Finally, the true follow-up to possibly the greatest game on the 360 comes out this week. That's right, Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise. The new game includes 30 new species, new areas, and an Eye of Judgment rip-off like feature which allows you to scan cards using a Live Vision camera and get new Piñatas that way. But unlike Eye of Judgment, Rare is actually going to be making these cards free on their website and maybe bundled with promotional partner products.
That's all for this week. Be sure to check back next time!
Hope you've braced yourself because the onslaught of new games starts to ramp up this week! RPG fans have two great "next-gen" games to look forward to this week, and golf fans get the latest installment of EA's Tiger Wood series. Nintendo fans also get in on the action this week with a new Mario sports game...and a shit ton of shovelware. Think this week is loaded? HA! It's only gonna get worse as we approach the holiday season.
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | •Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice
•Ferrari Challenge
•Tiger Woods 09
•Vampire Rain: Altered Species | •Tales of Vesperia
•Tiger Woods 09 | •Ferrari Challenge
•Freddi Fish: Kelp Seed Mystery
•Mario Super Sluggers
•Pajama Sam in Don't Fear the Dark
•Rebel Raiders
•Spy Fox in Dry Cereal
•Tiger Woods 09 | | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | •Fading Shadows (GameStop Exclusive)
•N+
•Tiger Woods 09 | •Commando Steel Disaster
•Digimon World Championship
•Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli
•From the Abyss
•Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness
•My Chinese Coach
•N+
•Picto Image
•The Quest Trio
•The Sims 2 Apartment Pets | •Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli
•Tiger Woods 09 |
 So, highlights this week include Tales of Vesperia, Disgaea 3, Tiger Woods 09, Mario Super Sluggers, and N+. I'm not going to spend a lot of time detailing each title, but I'll give you a brief rundown of them all. Tales of Vesperia, fun JRPG (holy shit, an RPG I like...at least based on the demo), latest in the Tales series, fans start screaming kawaii now. Disgaea 3: latest in the JSRPG (that's Japanese Strategy RPG for short) series, weeaboos rejoice and have a seat, I'm Chris Hansen from Dateline NBC. Tiger Woods 09: You know what this is about, more golf and jesus shots. Mario Super Sluggers: more casual games from Nintendo, thanks Cammie! N+: It's like the original PC/Mac/Linux or Xbox Live Arcade game on the go, you can't go wrong.
The strength of last week carries over into this week as well with the launch of a game that's been in development for 10 years, the first true sequel to Galaga, and a bite-sized follow up to one of the greatest PS3 games.
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | | ... | •Smash Court Tennis 3
•Too Human | ... | | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | | •Fading Shadows (GameStop Exclusive) | •Commando Steel Disaster | ... |
 Not a big list, but there's a lot of great stuff coming out. First is Too Human, the long in development Action RPG from Silicon Knights and The Canadian Loudmouth, Denis Dyack. In case you don't know, Too Human is an third person action/Dungeon Crawler RPG. I played the demo last week, and my impressions were that it was pretty fun, but chances are that the game could get very boring if it's stretched out to (supposedly) 10 or more hours. Not to mention replaying the game with all the various classes. So, I'd check out some footage or the demo if you're unsure about it. The buzz so far has been very mixed.
Also coming this week is the stunning sequel to Galaga, Galaga Legions. Galaga Legions is like the original game, but with several new features that change up the gameplay. What those features are, nobody really knows outside of a greater emphasis on combos, multidirectional attacks, and some serious bullet hell patterns. The game was made by the same team at Namco-Bandai that did last year's Pac-Man Championship Edition, which is an incredible game. So considering the team and the INCREDIBLE footage released so far, this game should be a winner.
 The final highlight this week is Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty for the Playstation 3. This pirate themed downloadable follow-up to last year's installment is a 3-4 hour experience with a heavier emphasis on platforming and puzzle solving than seen in the most recent games in the series. Insomniac has also introduced several new gameplay elements into the game including the ability for Ratchet to pick up and manipulate objects with his wrench, puzzles involving shadows, and more. What's awesome about this game is that it has all the polish and graphics of a $60 game, but as a 2GB download for only $15! I'm sure a lot of you would bitch about the $15 price, but I'm willing to pay that price in order to support Insomnaic and what they are doing. Hopefully this sells well enough to warrant future downloadable episodes.
Have a great week everyone.
This week marks the "unofficial" start of the fall game season. I know it's not fall yet, but in the biz, Madden usually marks the start of the rush to the holiday season. So, get your wallets out and make it rain on this industry!
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | | •Madden NFL 09 (Also released in a 20th anniversary edition, detailed after the list.) | •Madden NFL 09 (Also released in a 20th anniversary edition, detailed after the list.) | •Madden NFL 09 | | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | | •Madden NFL 09 (Also available this week: the Madden NFL 09 PSP Entertainment Pack, which includes a limited edition metallic blue PSP system, the Madden NFL 09 game, NFL: In Just One Play on UMD Video, and a coupon to download the game Beats from the Playstation Store on your PC. Retail price is $199.99) | •Bangai-O Spirits
•The Cheetah Girls: Passport to Stardom
•Imagine: Teacher
•Madden NFL 09
| •Madden NFL 09 |
 As you can tell, the big game this week is of course Madden NFL 09 for all systems (including the ORIGINAL Xbox!). The 20th anniversary installment in EA's long-running franchise promises to be something truly special, boasting upwards of 85 new features and enhancements. Among the new features include adaptive difficulty (which tests your and tailors the game to your abilities), online leagues, EA Sports Rewind (kind of a mulligan like feature if you screw up a play badly and want to learn from your mistakes), Backtrack (which acts in cooperation with Rewind and breaks down your last plays and tells you what you could have done better), new animations and models, new commentators (and no Madden!), more characters on the sidelines, user controlled celebrations and taunts, and so much more. Who says EA doesn't improve Madden each year? Because they're WRONG. Anyways, for you PS3 and 360 buyers, you also have the choice of buying the 20th Anniversary Collector's Edition for $89.99. This edition of the game includes Madden 09, NFL Head Coach 09 (also coming out separately from this edition next month), a fully playable version of Madden 93, Retro Playbooks, Retro Madden player models, and exclusive video content. Wii owners get a special version of the game dubbed "All-Play", an EA Sports initiative that aims to make their games easier to learn for players of all types. Features of the Wii version include an arcadey 5 on 5 mode, use of the Wii remote to deliver tackles, single button play calling, and more. Regardless of which version you get, Madden 09 looks to be an awesome update of the long-running series. Also, PS3 owners, the game actually runs as good as the 360 edition this year.  |  Perhaps football isn't your thing and you would rather play a more traditional game. Well, this week has plenty to offer you. First up on the list is Bangai-O Spirits, the latest from fan-favorite developer, Treasure. As you may have guessed, Bangai-O Spirits is a sequel to the cult classic N64/Dreamcast shooter Bangai-O. If you haven't played the original, the game is a free-roaming, multidirectional 2D shooter. The DS version promises to retain the spirit of the original, including the insane number of bullets on screen at once. What's neat about Spirits is that the levels have been designed around co-op, so you can jump in with up to 3 other people and play the game together. However, the coolest feature about the game is that it includes a level editor which allows you to build your own levels and share them with your friends. However, since Treasure is a quirky developer, they had to go about sharing them in the most bizarre way possible. The created level is encoded as a modem-like sound that is played over your DS speakers and transferred to your friend’s system using the microphone. The sound can also be output over the DS headphone jack and recorded on your computer to share with the world in MP3 format or over YouTube. This feature will not only work with levels, but you can also send high scores and replay videos. Pointless? Sure, but at least you don't have to deal with friend codes. Awesome? Totally. |  But there's more! This week also sees the release of the long-awaited Bionic Commando Rearmed on Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Network, and PC (via Steam, Direct2Drive, and other digital distribution platforms). Rearmed is a remake of the NES classic which features the same great gameplay as the original, but with new 2.5D HD graphics, new areas, online leaderboards, and other features. The game does not have any Nazi references as seen in the original Japanese game, but the voice acting and script of the game does make fun of the fact that it's censored. People buying it on the PS3 will also be able to play the game on their PSP using the remote play feature, and can also look forward to trophy support in a future patch for the game. The game will cost $10 on both XBLA and PSN, while it's going to be $15 on PC. |  Finally this week, the latest episodic series from one of my favorite developers, Telltale Games, begins. The series is Strong Bad's Cool Game For Attractive People, based on the popular web toon Homestar Runner. The first episode of the five episode series, Homestar Ruiner, releases on Monday and is about Strong Bad's scheme to win the tri-annual Race to the End of the Race and his attempt to get Homestar out of the house. The game has full creative input from the creators of Homestar Runner, the Brothers Chaps, with original stories written for the game. The game will be released on both WiiWare and on PC via the Telltale Games website. The Wii version will cost 1000 Wii Points ($10) per episode with no option to buy the whole series, bringing the total to $50) for the entire series. The PC edition sells for $8.95 an episode, or you can pre-order the entire season for only $34.95! If you go the PC route, you can download all the episodes as they come out, and you'll be able to get a DVD of all the episodes at the end of the season for the cost of shipping. Not a bad deal at all. |
Sorry for the long post, but there's a lot coming out that I wanted to highlight!
 Developer MOSS has announced (again?) that the arcade hit, Raiden IV, will be arriving on the Xbox 360 this fall. It is slated for a September 11 release and should be supercharged with two extra levels. DLC offerings will take the Ace Combat 6 route where you can buy more ships with different weapon selections and capabilities. A much anticipated feature is the ability to save and share replays of successful runs. Additional bells and whistles include the ability to play in TATE mode (sideways), world rankings, and stunning 3D backgrounds made possible by this next-gen system. Also, a soundtrack CD will be bundled with the game for a limited time. The 360 soundtrack will include all the original arcade music plus extras and some remixes.
While there is no official announcement of a worldwide release, the developers have mentioned their intent to bring the title overseas.
[Dengeki Online via Kotaku]
[1UP.com]
Why do I bother anymore? Enjoy your week of summer shovelware everyone!
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | •
Monster Madness: Grave Danger | ... | •Little League World Series
•King of Clubs
•Summer Athletics | | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | | ... | •The Cheetah Girls: Passport to Stardom
•GRID
•Little League World Series
•Professor Brainium
•Quick Yoga Training
•Rock Blast | •B-Boy
•Hannah Montana: Spotlight World Tour |
 Asking me to pick a game to get out of those is like forcing me to stab myself in the eye with a rusty knife, so I'm going to highlight Braid, this week's new Xbox Live Arcade game, and recipient of the 2006 Independent Games Festival award for Innovation In Design. The game is a puzzle platformer that features the ability to "rewind" your actions in order to help solve puzzles and correct your mistakes. However, rewinding creates the puzzles. For example, there are objects in the levels that cannot be rewound, alternate realities, and more. I have never played the game, but judging by the videos and various interviews with the game's designer, Jonathan Blow, this is going to be an incredible game. It comes out on XBLA this week and on PC sometime later this year.
Here's a link to the official website of the game: http://www.braid-game.com/
This week is highlighted by a fighter, a downloadable platformer, and a shooter.
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | | •Soul Calibur IV | •Soul Calibur IV
•Spectral Force 3 | •King of Clubs
•MLB Power Pros 2008
•Summer Athletics | | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | | ... | •Suzuki Superbikes | •MLB Power Pros 2008 |
 My pick this week is Soul Calibur IV for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. SCIV is the latest installment in Namco's popular fighting franchise, and features Star Wars characters, Yoda on the 360 and Darth Vader on the PS3. However, that may change since rumor has it that you will be able to purchase the character the other system has via downloadable content. The game is averaging 90% on GameRankings so far.
But my real pick of the week goes to the surreal PS3 downloadable platformer PixelJunk Eden. The demo came out last week, and I was completely blown away by what Dylan and the team at Q Games did with this one. I highly recommend picking it up if you're a PS3 owner looking for something relaxing but challenging...or if you're a Trophy Ho since Eden is the second game on the PS3 to support trophies. For you 360 owners, Geometry Wars 2 comes out this week as well. Geo Wars 2 is the sequel to the wildly successful Xbox Live Arcade original. New features include additional gameplay modes, and four player online co-op.
Ok, this week, there's damn near nothing coming out. That's the summer game drought in full effect.
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | | ... | ... | •Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
•Order Up
•SNK Arcade Classics V.1 | | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | | ... | •Final Fantasy IV
•Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
•New International Track & Field | •Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor |
 The SNK compilation might be neat but it was on PS2/PSP not too long ago. That leaves Final Fantasy IV, and I don't like JRPGs...so, there's nothing coming out this week. Oh, Siren: Blood Curse comes out on PSN this week along with 1942: Joint Strike on XBLA and PSN! I'll probably get 1942 because it looks like an AWESOME update of the original classic.
 Now that the press conferences from the big three console makers have concluded, it's time to take a look back at what was discussed during the conferences. I will be giving you a brief summary of the events along with links to videos showing the events from the conference and other relevant information. First up: Microsoft.
If you would like to view the entire presentation, you may do so at G4's website or it should be on the Xbox Live Marketplace for download.
The presentation was hosted by Don Mattrick, Senior VP of Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft. He starts off by warning us that the games being showed during this conference "are INTENSE games! Many are not for the faint of heart."
 A new trailer for Fallout 3 is played and Todd Howard, the game's director, then takes the stage to give us . What he showed looks astonishing and I highly recommend taking a look at the demo. I never really was interested in this game until seeing the demo and how it meshes a futuristic setting with a 1950's kind of vibe. Todd also announces that the Xbox 360 and Games For Windows will be receiving exclusive downloadable content for the game. He also appeared on G4 and gave them a 10 minute demonstration of the game.
Up next: the first demonstration of Resident Evil 5! The game is looking INCREDIBLE and looks like Gears of War crossed with Resident Evil. They also showcase the all-new online co-op mode and display how Chris and Sheva can work together to solve puzzles and destroy zombies. Resident Evil 5 will be released on Friday the 13th of March 2009 on both Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.
Peter Molyneux shows us Fable 2 and informs us that the game is completed and will ship in October. The game looks pretty cool, and the online co-op mode is extremely innovative. Also: the game has belching!
And now the game everyone's been waiting to see more of, Gears of War 2! Cliff Blezenski shows some gameplay footage and a new trailer. I think it looks like Gears 1 but outside, however I'm biased. Chainsawing people is AWESOME!!! Voice acting sounds horribly generic, but that's to be expected. Guess I'm spoiled after Metal Gear Solid 4. Great looking flame effects. New multiplayer mode is announced: Horde. Up to 5 people take on wave after wave of Locust of increasing difficulty. Game comes out on November 7.
Cliff exits, Don comes back on stage and starts the businessy part of the show. He informs us that games are the biggest form of entertainment in the world and claims that the 360 will sell more consoles than PS3 this generation. We'll see about that.
Now the Xbox Live portion of the show. NBC and Universal Studios join the Xbox Live Video marketplace. MGM and Constantin Film join in Europe.
 This fall, the Xbox 360 interface you all know and love will be replaced with a newer, more minimalist design. I think it looks better than the old one, but my opinion would change if they plaster it with ads like they do the current one. Along with the new interface comes several new features. First of those new features is avatars, which is pretty much a ripoff of Nintendo's Mii feature. These avatars could possibly replace your GamerPic that you currently have (no information is known for sure), but these avatars will show up in games just like on the Wii. Second, the community channel will be changed from a list of your friends to showing their avatars. The new community channel will also allow you to create a party, which allows you to join up with your friends to chat, share photos, and play games. Third, there is a new channel of Live called Xbox Live Primetime that will allow you to play free game shows online with people.
After that, they showed us a glimpse of many new Xbox Live Arcade titles. Among the titles shown are Uno Rush, Geometry Wars 2, Galaga Legions (done by the team that did Pac-Man Championship Edition, and holy shit it looks INCREDIBLE!), Portal: Still Alive, and South Park.
Microsoft then showed off clips of a few community games before dropping a bombshell: they have formed an exclusive partnership with Netflix. Subscribers to Netflix will be able to watch all of Netflix instant queue library on their console. But it doesn't end there! Your Xbox Live party can all join together and watch the same movie. Incredible idea, and a fantastic partnership for them.
Next: trailers for Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts and Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise
A sequel to Scene It is unveiled.
 Now things get awkward with the showing of You're In The Movies, which is a party game compilation of minigames that all use the Xbox Live Vision Camera. Watch the video to see people acting like jackasses and for GIANT ENEMY LIZARDS!
Guitar Hero: World Tour gets an apathetic reaction from the crowd while announcing that Metallica's new album will be available as DLC in Guitar Hero 3 on the day the album comes out.
Next up: the long-rumored unveil of Lips, Microsoft's upcoming SingStar ripoff Karoke Revolution ripoff karoke game. Developed by iNiS (Gitaroo Man, Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan, Elite Beat Agents), Lips will allow you to sing along to not just the songs they gave you, but dance using the motion sensitive wireless microphone. The coolest part about this game is that you can actually use your own music from your iPod/Zune (lol). Some pop "star" I've never heard of named Duffy comes out on stage and starts singing. I promptly run for the mute button.
Rock Band totally blows Guitar Hero away with a tracklist over 100 songs, the ability to port all your old Rock Band 1 DLC, and for $5 you will be able to play most Rock Band 1 songs in Rock Band 2 without the need to swap discs! By the end of the year Rock Band 2 will have a library of OVER 500 SONGS! Guitar Hero is done for.
 Then comes Square-Enix with new trailers for Infinite Undiscovery, Star Ocean: The Last Hope, and The Last Remnant. First they talk about The Last Remnant and show a new trailer. The game is out this holiday season for 360 and sometime later for PC.
Don thanks us all for attending, but Yoichi Wada won't have any of that. He's got something to say! Lights go down, and the shot heard round the world is fired. Final Fantasy XIII is coming to Xbox 360.
That's it for Microsoft. Stay tuned for summaries of both Nintendo and Sony, coming soon.
 Probably the worst week in quite a while...unless you happen to like college football, then more power to you.
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | | •NCAA Football 2009 | •NCAA Football 2009
•Space Chimps | •NCAA Football 2009
•Rock Band Track Pack Vol. 1
•Space Chimps
•We Love Golf | | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | •Code Lyoko: Quest for Infinity
•NCAA Football 2009 | •Mister Slime
•Nancy Drew: Clue Bender Society
•Space Chimps | •NCAA Football 2009
•Rock Band Track Pack Vol. 1
•Spce Chimps |
Honestly, I don't care about any of the games this week. Rock Band track pack could be neat for all you owners of the gimped editions of the game and seems fairly priced. NCAA 09 is by far the biggest game of the week, but again, I don't care about sports. Soooo...stay tuned for exciting E3 news!
 Here's the first big news to come out of E3 this year. The rumors have come true. Microsoft is indeed dropping the price of their 20 GB Pro version of the Xbox 360 to $299.99, a $50 savings.
However, there is a catch: this price drop is the exact same thing as the PS3 60 GB price drop of last year. It's merely a move to get rid of the 20 GB models so they can replace them with the more expensive 60 GB model. Yes, that's right, MS is introducing a FOURTH MODEL. That's right, Microsoft is going to be selling four editions of the 360 at once. This model, as stated, will have a 60 GB hard drive and will retail for the $349.99 (the current price of the 20 GB model). So once the 20 GB Pro model is gone, the price drop benefits won't be there...but at least you get 40 GB of additional hard drive space.
But what about the other 360 models? There will be no changes. Yup. Ol' Gimpy (aka: the Arcade) is still $279.99 and the Elite is still $449.99.
Keep it on RF Generation for all the latest from E3.
Source: Kotaku
*No offense is meant by the image. It's just a joke.*
Looks like 2K Games pulled a fast one on us this week!
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | •Beijing Olympics 2008
•Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution | •Beijing Olympics 2008
•Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution
•Unreal Tournament 3 | •Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon
•Purr Pals (if you buy this, you are part of the problem, not the solution)
•Wonder World Amusement Park | | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | | ... | •Carnival Games
•Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution | ... |
 Apparently Civ Rev is coming out this week instead of last week. Again, it's my pick of the week because the demo I played on the PS3 is pretty fun if you're a strategy game fan. The PC versions of the game are better, yes, but there's really nothing else like it on a console right now. Give it a shot by downloading the demo on your 360 or PS3 and see what you think.
Also of note this week, Unreal Tournament 3, the latest installment in Epic's long-running shooter franchise, hits the Xbox 360. The game came out about 7 or 8 months ago on the PS3 and PC...and didn't sell verry many copies on either system. Now Epic is going to try their luck on the Xbox 360 where it might do better since shooters sell very well on that system and they already have a huge fanbase from Gears of War. Hopefully it does well enough for Epic to consider supporting the game even more on the other platforms. Even though the 360 edition is lacking custom mod support and mouse/keyboard control, I highly recommend picking it up if you're looking for a fun, fast-paced, old-school shooter.
Light week. Nothing very good at all really. One game might be pretty cool but that's about it really.
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | •Hail to the Chimp
•Guitar Hero: Aerosmith
•Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution | •Hail to the Chimp
•Gears of War Refresh
•Guitar Hero: Aerosmith
•Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution | •Guitar Hero: Aerosmith
•Purr Pals (if you buy this, you are part of the problem, not the solution) | | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | | ... | •1 VS. 100
•AMF Bowling Pinbusters
•Ducati Moto
•Smart Kids Game Club
•Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 | •Guitar Hero: Aerosmith |
It's the 4th of July. Go buy some fireworks instead of games. But Civilization Revolution looks cool if you're into that kind of thing. Not sure if it is? Download the demo from the Playstation Store or Xbox Live. I did it, and I must say it was pretty nifty. Didn't get a chance to play much of it, but it I liked what I played. Oh and Guitar Hero: Aerosmith comes out this week for all two people that care. Enjoy your game with effing Aerosmith (uggghhh). For the rest of us, Rock Band 2 has been announced.
*Note: the views of Tony are those of himself and do not represent the views of anyone else. If you have a problem with it, please direct complaints to the OH NOOOO Otter.*
What the hell happened this week? Is it last fall again? Goddamn...
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | •Battlefield: Bad Company
•Hail to the Chimp
•Hellboy: Science of Evil
•Overlord Raising Hell
•Top Spin 3
•Wall-E | •Alone in the Dark
•Battlefield: Bad Company
•Hail to the Chimp
•Hellboy: Science of Evil
•Operation Darkness
•Supreme Commander
•Top Spin 3
•Wall-E | •Big Beach Sports
•Rock Band (This is actually out already. I think I missed it on last week's list.)
•Top Spin 3
•Wall-E | | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | •Hellboy: Science of Evil
•Naruto Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2: The Phantom Fortress
•Wall-E | •American Girl: Kit Mystery Challenge
•Cake Mania 2
•Code Lyoko: Fall of XANA
•Final Fantasy Tactics A2
•Gourmet Chef
•Guitar Hero: On Tour
•Mega Man Star Force 2 Zerker X Ninja
•Mega Man Star Force 2 Zerker X Saurian
•Midnight Play Pack
•My Weight Loss Coach
•Smart Kids Game Club
•Top Spin 3
•Wall-E | •Wall-E |
 There's far too many games coming out this week, but what's worth checking out? Alone in the Dark and Overlord Raising Hell look pretty neat. Final Fantasy Tactics A2, Top Spin 3, and Supreme Commander have been getting great reviews, but I would recommend Battlefield: Bad Company above all the other games this week. If you haven't seen anything about the game it's basically a wartime FPS, but unlike most other games of this type (Call of Duty 4 for example) it is actually pretty lighthearted in tone and contains a good amount of humor. The gameplay is like many other FPS games, so it's nothing completely new, but it's still very fun. If you're interested, give the demo a chance on either the Playstation Network or Xbox Live.
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