Warren Spector Speaks Truth to Power About Motion ControlPosted by Mitch on March 11th, 2010

As we all know, the Game Developer Conference is happening this week down in San Francisco, and there’s a lot of news coming out about Sony’s Move motion controller. While it’s got a few developers excited about the possibilities, one industry veteran doesn’t think too highly about the rush to embrace gaming’s new zeitgeist.

Warren Spector has been in the video game industry for a long time, starting off with Wing Commander in the 1990s, but he’s perhaps most renown for his work on Thief, Deus Ex, and System Shock. With such a history behind him, surely he’s one to listen to when it comes to debating the merits of motion control. As Gamasutra’s new interview states, Mr. Spector isn’t so hot on the idea of motion control, mostly because it’s essentially “throwing away our entire history”. During the “Lunch with Luminaries” event at GDC, something I would give my left arm to attend, Warren had this to say about motion control:

“I think it’s kind of weird…that we’ve sort of said, ‘We’ve go 20, 30 years of people learning how to do this — sitting on their couch and having a good time, and knowing where the buttons are — and we’re saying ‘You’ve got to stand up and wave around and gesture,’”

He goes on to quantify his statement: More »

Introducing: PlayStation MovePosted by Eddy on March 11th, 2010

Ever since Nintendo dropped trou on the video game industry with its motion control system, and then consequently made a metric crapload of money, it was only a matter of time before the other boys followed suit. We all knew that Project Natal from Microsoft was worming its way into our homes sometime soon, but there had been little development from Sony’s side of the ring.

Well, the gloves are now off. It seems that Sony has officially announced PlayStation Move, its new motion control device that is totally not a Wii-mote, as indicated by that strange blue ball on the end. Anyway, VG247 has a list of all the PS Move news you could shake a stick at, so I’d recommend checking that out if you want in on all the dirty details. The more interesting pieces of information include the fact that 20 first party titles are going to support PS Move when it launches this holiday, and that the device will be bundled with the EyeToy for a measly $100 bones.

So, what do you guys think of the PS Move? Go!

Source- VG247

After Burner Climax Video Shoots a Lot of MissilesPosted by Mitch on February 23rd, 2010

I don’t know how I missed this trailer, but apparently Sega is bringing After Burner Climax to XBLA and the PSN later this year. The trailer for this game looks freaking sweet, and I can’t wait to play it then promptly give up in frustration.

Fix up the music and you’ve got yourself a sale, Sega. Between this and Sonic the Hedgehog 4 coming to consoles later this year, it looks like Sega is back on the path to winning gamer’s hearts once again. Who’s going to pick this up, and for what system? Do any of you remember playing the old version of this in that massive arcade cabinet?

Franchise Fanboy WarsPosted by Eddy on December 16th, 2009

Things are pretty messy out there in the video game realm. Gamers fighting against gamers, flames flying around the tubes left and right. People claiming superiority over one another because of a purchasing decision. What have we become?

I suppose it was only a matter of time before it came to this. Sure, everyone’s got their favorite system of choice, be it PC, XBox 360, PS3 or the Wii… But what about the franchises? To help feed the fanboy flames, I thought I’d throw some of our most beloved characters and stories together, to see who came out on top after a brutal battle to the death. It’s the franchise fanboy wars!
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Abandoning Ship: Choosing a Different Console for Sequels?Posted by Mitch on November 4th, 2009

If I were in charge of the PlayStation division of Sony, I’d be feeling pretty good about myself right now. According to Gamasutra, more and more consumers seem to be buying up the hotly anticipated sequels to Assassin’s Creed and Modern Warfare on the PS3 as opposed to the X-Box 360.

Gamasutra’s article focuses on something called “franchise lineage”, which for us laymen is “gamer intent to purchase sequels to successful games”. The direction of the lineage seems to be changing for Assassin’s Creed 2, which shows the biggest shift. According to GamePlan Insights, the company that ran the research, fifteen percent of those who own the X-Box version plan to buy it on PS3 while only seven percent of PS3 Assassin’s Creed owners are purchasing Assassin’s Creed II on the X-Box.

While Assassin’s Creed II seems to be in the forefront of this movement, the report also indicated that Modern Warfare 2 shows a varying trend as well. The big question is this, though: why is the X-Box 360 losing sequel sales to its competitor?
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Review: Uncharted 2: Among ThievesPosted by Eddy on October 28th, 2009

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last few months, you know that Uncharted 2 is the Playstation 3’s big great piece of hype, lying in wait to strike at just the right moment this holiday season. You also might know that the game is the object of a ridiculous amount of affection as gamers and reviewers alike swoon over its pixelated action. So, how does the game actually stack up? Let’s find out.
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Putting the Controller DownPosted by Eddy on October 24th, 2009

Woah. So Uncharted 2 is one incredible game. If you have been on the fence about getting a Playstation 3 (or a PS triple, as some would say), you no longer have any excuses. Go out and get this game right now. I’m being serious. There will be punches if you ignore me on this.

Now that that’s out of the way, on to what I was really trying to say. This morning I finally finished this fantastic game, and I found myself sad to see it over. Most of the time when I beat a game, I usually find myself excited about my accomplishment, being able to move on to something else. It’s only with movies and books that I get sad during an ending. Which really says a lot to me about the quality of Uncharted 2’s storytelling. In fact, I was so engrossed throughout the whole game that it was often hard to put the controller down. On nights that I needed to go to bed earlier, I would purposely avoid the game because I knew once it was one, it was go time.

Honestly, I can’t really remember the last time that a game struck me with that same sense of “holy crap I can’t put this down”. For a single player game, it’s certainly been awhile. What about you guys? When was the last time you suffered from “can’t put the controller down” syndrome?

GamerSushi Asks: Greatest Single Player Game?Posted by Eddy on October 13th, 2009

Two great single player games are coming out today, in case you didn’t know. That’s right, both Uncharted 2 and Brutal Legend are dropping today, and from the reports, they are both awesome. In fact, Adam Sessler referred to Uncharted 2 as the greatest single player game he’s ever played. Ever. While it’s usually hard to take such grand statements seriously, I can’t help but get hyped for this game.

So it got me thinking about what the greatest single player game I’ve ever played actually is. There are quite a few of them, to be honest. Knights of the Old Republic, Mario 64, Final Fantasy 7 and Suikoden III come to mind. Also, Shadow of the Colossus is a strong contender for number one as well.

I’m very much aware that this topic of discussion is the complete opposite end of the spectrum from one we had last week, but I wanted to explore it anyway. So what about you guys? What’s the best single player game you’ve ever played? And are any of you going to pick up Brutal Legend or Uncharted 2? Go!

Heavy Rain Corner Store GameplayPosted by Eddy on September 30th, 2009

Man, I want this game. Even though Heavy Rain has been pushed into 2010, it doesn’t make it any less desirable. Especially if gameplay videos like these keep popping up.

In this new video highlighting a corner store sequence, we see a detective trying to find out more about the Origami Killer that he is pursuing. Unfortunately for him, a robber shows up in the store, demanding and waving a gun the way robbers are wont to do. The cool thing about this video though, is that it shows several of the different ways that this sequence could ultimately pan out, including the main character himself dying, at which point a new character would take over.

TGS: New Last Guardian FootagePosted by Eddy on September 24th, 2009

TGS 2009 is going on right now in Tokyo, and with it comes lots of new information from all those lovable Japanese developers. Why, we’ve had some new previews from MGS: Peace Walker, FFXIII and FXIV, and then some. But the thing that interested me the most was some new footage of Team Ico’s new game, The Last Guardian.

I just can’t get enough of this hippogriff thing. The gameplay looks intriguing, and the art design is just gorgeous. Who else is dying for this game?