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Embed Test 3.5.2008 11:53pm
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Unfinished Business II 3.5.2008 11:53pm
Earlier today NeoGaf posters started a topic about a ton of bugs in the 360 port of Bully, which went on sale only yesterday. People have been reporting frame rate issues, frequent freezing and skipping audio. I have also heard that some of the games hang-ups can only be solved by starting a new game.
A few hours after stories of the incomplete game circulated throughout the whole of the Internet Rockstar's issued this statement:
"We have just become aware of the issues people are having with Bully Scholarship Edition on Xbox 360. It appears that some older 360s are experiencing framerate issues, freezes and other problems. You have our word that we never experienced any of this in QA - in any of our offices or at Microsoft. I am horrified, and we are now working around the clock to rectify this situation. Thanks to Neo-Gaf for bringing this matter to our attention. We love our games and put a huge amount of energy and care into making them all that they can be. We would never shove anything out the door - we never have and never will. We apologise [sic] to everyone affected for the inconvenience. Respectfully, Sam Houser"
This is inexcusable. You're telling me that your office and Microsoft's office (no joke intended) tested the game and everything was all peachy? And I don't buy for one second that only "older 360's" that are experiencing these issues, considering many people experiencing the freezing are using Elite models. There is nothing in these mystical newer Xbox 360's that makes them run better, faster or longer.
It's 2008. Problems like this shouldn't happen. If there is a problem with your game, own up to it. Sam Houser seems to have tried, but at the last minute decided to place the blame on old hardware. Why not just say ninjas snuck into all the stores and replaced all the working copies with broken ones. Bad form old boy, bad form.
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We Win! 2.19.2008 10:54pm
The war is over. The war is over! We WIN! WE WIN!!
Today Toshiba announced that it will no longer manufacture HDDVD players. That's right. And they plan to be totally out of the game by March. This was not a unforeseen move, what with the HDDVD camp canceling their keynote at CES this year and Warner Brothers swinging into the BluRay camp.
This is good news for Sony though. For the first time their proprietary format actually caught on. BetaMAX, MiniDisc, LaserDisc, and UMD will not have another joining at their table of failure, not just yet. BluRay, is actually going to catch on.
And while Sony might be breathing easier that they didn't go 0 for 5, the real winner of this war is you. The consumer wins when there is only one format. I was never an anyone's side but the consumers for this battle of epic proportions. I'm glad one side finally realized there was no coming out of this alive and put down their arms and started waving a white flag. It really wouldn't have mattered to me which side it was, just as long as there was only one. Trying to sell 90% of this country on another disc format is going to be tough enough, telling them that there is two... well that's just annoying.
But here we have it. HDDVD is dead. Toshiba is backing down. And the consumers won.
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Unfinished Business 2.18.2008 1:53pm
Today CD Projekt announced they will be releasing an "enhanced" version of their hit RPG The Witcher from 2007.
From the Press Release: "Loading times, which will be reduced by 80%, the stability of the game on different PC configurations, as well as an array of smaller fixes that will increase interactivity and precision in combat. ... over 50 new supporting character models will be added, so that the player won't run into the same person too often. The inventory panel will be re-designed and improved ... characters will get over 100 new animated gestures which will make their body language during conversations much more natural..." They also talk about how the English language version had a whole crap load of text cut out and now that is being put back in.
I have two very opposite feelings about this news.
On the one hand it's awesome that a developer listens to its community and responds accordingly by releasing a cleaned up version of their game and gives out free to people who already bought it. To not abandon your product after launch is something that gamers really appreciate.
On the other hand... every single thing listed as a 'fix' should have been in the first release of the game. Why weren't animations fluid during conversations? How come text was left out of the English release? You're adding 50 new character models?! 50!!? So how many were there before, like 2? I bet it was confusing seeing the same two guys everywhere you went! Also "precision in combat"? So you would miss things a lot? How did that problem even get through testing?
It sounds to me like they didn't actually finish their game when it went to release. And I would be damn angry if I bought a game that was short 50 character models and a chunk of the story. The whole thing just sounds really sloppy. It really pisses me off that more and more games are coming out unfinished and relying on DLC to fix problems that should never have been an issue. The Witcher hasn't even been out four months and it is already getting a huge overhaul.
Game developers, please, please just finish your games before you release them. I am a firm believer that game delays are a good thing. It means problems are getting fixed. I buy games when they come out. You don't help me 4, or 6 months later when you release a patch fixing all the things you left out of your game. I have already moved on.
All you have to do is include everything you are going to include in your patch, in the retail version of the game. That makes gamers happy. Also way, when your next game comes out we will be sure to pay attention because your previous endeavor was well polished and fluid.
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Cornering The Market - Final Fantasy 2.17.2008 11:10pm
Final Fantasy has certainly cornered the Final Fantasy market. Let me break that down. Final Fantasy is the big boy in Japanese RPGs (Dragon Quest is a close second but it's not in the title so I choose not to talk about it). Even now 20+ years after the release the name still holds major weight.
It holds so much weight that even if you worked on those early games you can sell your new, Non-Final-Fantasy game. At least that seems to be the trend. Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi has walked away from the Final Fantasy to pursue other interests. Namely Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey (Xbox 360 exclusives which Microsoft paid handsomely for).
On all the posters and cardboard cutouts for Lost Odyssey that fact is brandished proudly. I mean there are Square fans; people who actually bought Project Sylpheed because their name was on the box. With the name being that popular Sakaguchi would be near crazy to leave his connection to the Final Fantasy franchise off the PR propaganda.
My favorite part of the Lost Odyssey / Final Fantasy cross branding is the queasy feeling SquareEnix gets every time someone looks at a cardboard cutout. Knowing that not only will they see no money from their baby, but also that their platform of choice might also not be the platform of choice for a third of the globe. The more time that goes by, the more Xbox's are sold, the more PS2 owners are making the switch to the Microsoft camp. The Japanese RPG market is always a place where American companies have struggled... for geographical reasons mostly.
When MS couldn't lock down shared rights to Final Fantasy the next best thing was to lock down exclusivity to the creator. By brandishing Lost Odyssey propaganda with the one thing they can't have Microsoft has solidified Final Fantasy as the pinnacle of the genre. The be all end all. The final word. And it is.
Even people who don't like turn based RPG's as a genre play Final Fantasy. When people want to venture into the genre the direction they are pointed in that of Final Fantasy. That is the turn-based-RPG starting point. From there you can spread your wings and fly into DragonQuests, or Manna... places.
Go wherever you want really just remembered where it all started. At a little place called Final Fantasyville. It is, after all, the defining game in the genre.
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That Didn't Last Long 2.11.2008 1:33am
I am so over Advance Wars. I know that only a few days ago I was telling you how addicted I was. And it was all true. But that whole turn based combat thing now has me bored.
While there is no doubt that Advance Wars: Days of Ruin is good at what it does it's just not a game for me. It became increasingly frustrating to decide weather to attack or move with certain vehicles, while others could do both in one turn.
I prefer things in realtime. There is no way for me to escape that fact. It was a fun experiment, and now it's over. Convenient considering I am picking up Professor Layton and the Curious Village tomorrow and that will certainly fill the void left in my DS slot.
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I Thought We Were Beyond This 2.8.2008 12:57pm
I was playing Call of Duty 4 yesterday. A game I was peer pressured into picking up. Haven't actually jumped into the multi player yet, I wanted to try my hand at the campaign first. It was here that I discovered a problem that has not plagued video games since the Super Nintendo Entertainment System; The Endless Army.
War is difficult... from what I hear anyway. And I play my shooters the way I would probably react in a real situation. I sit tight. Then pop out and shoot, and return to cover. I have infinite patients so I can do this all day. It is a tactic that is both safe and effective, actually it's even more effective in GRAW and Rainbow Six: Vegas, because of their cover system.
COD 4 accredits itself for being ultra realistic. There is no cover system like the aforementioned Tom Clancy games, but it doesn't loose marks in my book because of that. Where it does make me scoff (and also kick and scream) is the endless amount of enemies you face if you hold yourself up behind some cover. If you do not make forward progress in the game the terrorists (always terrorists these days) keep coming and they fill the exact same spot as the guy you just killed.
If you are being harassed by a guy in a second story window, and you pop out and finally get him, if you don't move to a new location within 30 seconds someone else will magically appear to take his place.
I sat on a street corner for (I kid you not) fifteen minutes. Shooting at guys in buildings and their replacements. When I finally decided to rush the building I was killed. The second time went through, I rushed after the first wave, fully expecting the house to be littered with terrorists anxiously waiting for their turn to die. The house was empty. "Where" I wondered, "were all those terrorists coming from before?"
The answer is nowhere.
Infinity Ward has crafted a fantastic game, don't get me wrong, but that endless army crap needs to stop. When I play R6:Vegas2 next month I know that when I kill on patrol a replacement won't appear the second I turn away. It just takes me out of the game. I hate knowing how a game works and then playing it with that knowledge. I'd rather play COD4 as if I were in war. That's why I buy games and don't join the army. The last time I dealt with an infinite number of enemies was in Zombies Ate My Neighbors. But I forgive that game because it's awesome.
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On This Image 2.05.2008 2:22am
I am so sick of seeing this image. Take a good long look at it. Take it all in. If i never see this image again I will be extremely happy.
Sony has done a lot of things wrong as of late; be it too many firmware updates or tacking too many things onto the PSP. But to release a complete atheistic redesign of their hardware a 1.25 years after it launched is ludicrous. People are just now at the point where they associate the Xbox 360 with its concave shape and white casing, after being on the market for almost twice as long. For Sony to change up the appearance of their box now would quite possibly be the worst thing they could do to the PlayStation brand.
It's bad enough that they had 4 hardware SKU's come available in 11 months, 3 of which are now discontinued, with a fifth coming out soon. It wouldn't have been so bad if these 4 versions had the same functionality but they don't even play all the same games. And that's the most confusing part coming out of the Sony camp. Where at launch it was "one has wireless and card readers and the other one doesn't" now it's "well they both have wireless, but this one has less USB ports, oh and this one plays 60% of PS2 games and this one doesn't play any, but it does play PS1 games... whats that? you want to play all your PS2 games? well only the discontinued models do that."
I'm sorry was my talking to myself confusing? Blame Sony. The list of disparities between the 4 versions of their hardware boggles the mind. Where Microsoft keeps adding functionality to their new SKU's (and hits 3 price points very well, i might add) Sony keeps taking away functionality. After removing Wireless from the 20 gig, 40% of the PS2 library from the 80 gig, then the remaining 60% of the PS2 library and some USB ports from the 40 Gig, Sony is running out of things to remove. When this rumored 120 or 160 gigabyte PlayStation 3 comes out it will probably not even play games. Just sit connected to your TV running Folding@home and Calling All Cars. But I'll tell you what. What ever it has (or lacks) inside of it. It WILL NOT look like that picture above.
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I'm Playing Advance Wars 2.5.2008 1:44am
OK, so I know someone who knows someone who slept with someone who is high ranking at at Nintendo. Because of this I wound up with a free copy of Advance Wars: Days of Ruin.
I have talked before about how much I don't like turn based combat. And 96.37% of the time thats true. If I have to choose, I choose real time combat. I like RTS as a genre, I'm a big Command and Conquer fan. So the thought of Advance Wars, being turn based, really turned me off.
But like I said. I acquired a free copy so I tried it today... I'm hooked. It is some of the best combat I have ever taken part of. Strategies and tactics I learned from my RTS days are paying off, but for some reason I feel more connected to this type of combat. That is definitely a credit to the franchise; I just can't put this thing down.
I just... I just have no words. Nintendo has put together the combination of an interesting story (though the characters are gross archetypes) in an interesting setting, and combined that with awesome combat. Bravo, Nintendo. Bravo.
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Body Language 2.1.2008 7:16pm
Today I got all of two things accomplished. I waited patiently for Samsung to repair my Television. And I made an online store. Of those two things I am having a hard time figuring out which will effect my life more. Only time will tell.
There are currently only two shirts on the market at the moment, but I have a sneaking suspicion that is going to change soon. Gaze upon the work shirt, and the tee shirt.
The first one has a little Intellivsion running man in place of the polo. It's a subtle way of keeping your retro gamer with you even on days where a collar is necessary. The second represents everything wrong with games reviews, and your ability to remind people that it makes no sense.
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Big Daddy Show: Portably Challenged 1.22.2008 10:56am
Today on the show the Big Daddy and Altair discuss the portability of the PSP and the backwards tactic of porting of games from the PSP to the PS2. It's a really strange list of gams that have made the journey. So sit down and let us tell you about it.
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The Completion Blues 1.15.2008 11:37pm
I like stories. Specifically ones with strong characters that I can really get invested in. On Friday I was in the middle of 3 fantastic stories. Assassins Creed, Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, and the book (yes. i read) Destiny's Way. I had been going through those stories plus Ace Attorney 3 all at the same time towards the end of December and was having trouble juggling 4 really good narratives.
I finished up Assassins Creed on Friday night. Having completed every mission except for the flag ones. The story was big. Big world, lots of things to do but told linearly and that's really what drew me in. After playing Assassins Creed for probably close to 30 hours it felt good to put it to rest. I knew I had Zelda to finish and a book still, so my narrative junkie could get his fix.
Yesterday I finished Zelda and my book. I didn't realize I was at the end of Zelda. I'm actually a little let down that there wasn't more. There was no big twist at the halfway point that sent me off gallivanting throughout the map on last time before the final battle. I guess that's what I was expecting since that has been part of the Zelda formula since Ocarina of Time.
The book, I knew was almost over, it's one of those things you can tell is coming based on pages remaining, so that was no surprise. My problem is I have had a steady flow of story in video games or books or comics since BioShock in August. Not a night went by where I didn't play Ace Attorney (which is like reading a book), or Assassins Creed, or Zelda or Half Life 2, Halo 3... and now Mario Galaxy is all I have left. From what I've played of Galaxy so far it doesn't seem like the story is going to grab me by the groin and pull me in. Lets face it, it's the nostalgia and the fun/trippy game play. Mario will not give me the fix I desperately search for.
I sit here scratching my arm as I look up and down my bookshelf in search for a game whose story can feed my hunger. The last thing I expected was to be going through withdrawal after finishing these stories. They grabbed me and pulled me along begging to be completed, and now that they are done, I am sad to see them go. I have nearly 4 weeks to wait for Ace Attorney 4, and 8 after that to wait for Force Unleashed. This story junkie will be sitting on the floor rocking back and forth if you need me.
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New Site Like Whoa 1.11.2008 10:08pm
I know I've been talking about this for some time, but the time has finally come. The new site is here. Starting on this day All the updates will come on this nice looking page and not on the free blogger site. The other site will remain up as I move everything previously written into the fancy new archive we have. Thanks for reading and expect to see some cool stuff to follow.
