Top Six: Things Gamers Said They Wanted But Didn’t

Gamers are a greedy, fickle bunch, and we love nothing more than having our cake and eating it too. For every developer or publisher that tries to please us by making a fan-service game or getting sequels out faster, there’s thousands of gamers who will flock to the forums decrying the release dates and the addition of rainbows.

While gamer hypocrisy has been on the rise for a long time, it’s reached a critical mass within the last few years. Come inside and take a journey as we discover the top six things gamers said they really wanted, but actually didn’t.
Continue reading Top Six: Things Gamers Said They Wanted But Didn’t

DICE Officially Cans PC Versions of Battlefield 1943, Bad Company 2: Onslaught

battlefield 1943 bad company 2 onslaught pc cancelled

It is with a heavy heart that I type this news, PC faithful, because DICE, the developers behind the Battlefield and Mirror’s Edge series, has officially announced that they are cancelling both the PC port of Battlefield 1943 and the co-operative Onslaught Mode for Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

In a recent post on the Battlefield Blog, DICE General Manager Karl Magnus Troedsson came out in a very frank way and told the community that these two eagerly awaited games would have to be discontinued to make way for Battlefield 3.

We know some of you eagerly have been awaiting Battlefield 1943 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Onslaught on PC. I’m sad to say that these two titles are now officially cancelled. Instead, our talented teams will focus on delivering the greatest possible gaming experience in our next behemoth release. We’re confident this will lead to an even better experience in Battlefield 3, not only on PC, but on all platforms.

While this is hardly a surprise, given that I originally posted about Battlefield 1943 on PC facing a delay over a year ago, it’s still very much a let down. I did play and enjoy both 1943 and Bad Company 2: Onslaught on the Xbox 360, but the PC is my preferred platform for Battlefield.

So, PC gamers of this site, any thoughts on the unfortunate cancellation of 1943 and Onslaught? Do you feel slighted by DICE? Are you still looking forward to Battlefield 3 (which is running on the Frostbite 2 engine)? Go!

Source – Battlefield Blog

What it Takes to Make a PSN Port

PS1

If you read anything that I say at all, you’ll know that I’m one of the constant voices clamoring for digital releases of old games. While I prefer these to be restored in pristine HD, I don’t even care if that’s the case, as I would love the chance to play them at any resolution at all. You can count me as one of the people that is obnoxious about this, as I never have understood what the hold up is on these old school classics. In my head, just take the code and slap it online, yes?

Actually, that’s ridiculously wrong. Fortunately for the ignorant masses, Sony has come along with a great piece of transparency and released some thoughts about the process of converting PS1 classics to the PSN store. I found it a really cool article, and it shed some light on a few issues that I didn’t know existed. For instance, what happens when a particular product is featured in a game, but the license on its use has run out? What happens when the developer that made the game no longer exists, or if the game is bugged when they convert it, and nobody is left that can drop what they’re doing to fix it?

Anyway, I thought I’d share the article because of how informative it was. I honestly had no idea that the process had so many tricks to it, so it’s nice to know they are actively working on it. What do you guys think? Any other classic games you’d love to have in digital formats?

Source – Playstation Blog

Bulletstorm Does Another Spoof With Duty Calls

bulletstorm duty calls spoof

Bulletstorm, the demo of which we talked about on our latest episode of The GamerSushi Show, has been taking the piss out of the most popular first person shooters of our day. While the PR team at EA previously took a swipe at Halo 3’s excellent Diorama commercial, this time Call of Duty is on the chopping block with Duty Calls, a cutting look at the tropes Call of Duty employs on a regular basis. What sort of tropes you ask? Let the following list tell you, then check out a video after the jump:

Duty Vision slows down the action so you can unload a storm of bullets
Immersive dialogue from the front lines
Cold, calculated realism
Killing animations motion captured from real actors
True-life reloading system allows for mistakes in putting the cartridge in the gun
Iconic sound effects
Thwart an enemy threat that could topple the country and possibly the world
Significant and historically accurate props Continue reading Bulletstorm Does Another Spoof With Duty Calls

Today’s WTF: Treyarch to Gamers: Stop Being so Angry, Yo

treyarch angry gamers

While Call of Duty: Black Ops may be Treyarch’s best contribution to the series to date, there are some out there who think that the game isn’t all that great. They’ll say that the story is confusing and poorly written and the multiplayer is full of broken spawns, latency, and on the PS3, dirty hackers. They might also say that the game is basically the same it’s been for the last eight years.

As the underdog studio just released the First Strike Map Pack (available exclusively on Xbox LIVE, kids), Treyarch community manager Josh Olin gave a little interview with NowGamer about how patches are important to the online experience and what Treyarch are doing to keep Blops going strong. At the end of the interview, however, the writer asks Mr. Olin what he thinks the biggest problem with the game industry is: Continue reading Today’s WTF: Treyarch to Gamers: Stop Being so Angry, Yo

Fill in the Squares with Modern Gamedev Bingo

Bingo Balls

Ever feel like you just see the same things in video games over and over? Apparently you’re not the only one. Whether it’s FPS number 127 of a given year, the same voice actors/actresses or a similar bald male protagonist, sometimes gaming tropes get more than a bit tiring.

A new post over at I Get Your Fail takes all the cliches from video game development and turns them into a game in their own right, with Modern Gamedev Bingo. I have to say, it’s a pretty funny collection of gaming jabs, and it makes me want to do this for some of the games I’m currently playing. In particular, I like the squares for “realistic color palette”, “story based on war” and “has zombies/nazis”.

As funny as the whole thing is, it’s also a bit depressing to think that so many modern games can be summed up so succinctly. What do you guys think of this bingo board? Do you guys think these cliches are necessarily bad things? Go!

Source – I Get Your Fail

The GamerSushi Show, Ep 17: “Sup, Bitches?”

It’s a new edition of the GamerSushi Show, ladies and gents. While 17 is not a very special number to celebrate (except for dog lovers in Canada, apparently), we’re still happy to be releasing these podcasts every week, despite our general apathy towards doing things. And really, that’s an achievement in and of itself.

In the not-so-remarkable-but-still-excellent 17th episode, we chat about a number of gaming topics, including: Sony’s NGP, Dead Space 2, Bulletstorm, Crysis 2 and Game Dev Story. We also play a whopping two games this week instead of the usual one from our friendly beard. This week, Anthony drops in with a game where we guess about a classic review. Likewise, Nick gives us a game of Grades, where we rate industry happenings. We also talk about the Social Network at some point in there, I think, unless it got cut by Nick’s merciless editing.

Anyway, give it a listen and please rate the podcast on iTunes as well. Continue reading The GamerSushi Show, Ep 17: “Sup, Bitches?”