Thursday, June 09, 2005

Monday, April 11, 2005

Xbox 360 shown to the consumers first

Microsoft has just announced that the Xbox 360 will be revealed to the world on an MTV special May 12. This is just four days before E3. Personally, I like Microsoft circumventing the press and going straight to the people - that focus is arguably part of the reason the original Xbox was successful. Remember all the talk about focus groups and visiting gamers in their home to find out what they wanted? That's how they ended up with cords that were finally long enough. Let's hope they're still listening to the gamers.

Friday, March 25, 2005

Multiplayer Map Details

Head on over to bungie.net to get the nitty-gritty details, but here are the highlights: nine new maps, four in late April. Two for free, two to purchase. All the maps free by late summer. Oh, and a 19.99 retail release of all nine maps. Sounds all right to me.

New Halo 2 Maps Announced


sanctuary
Originally uploaded by Jerkob.
Bungie just announced today their plans for new multiplayer maps. The plan is quite complicated - it feels very apparent that Microsoft is trying to straddle the fence between raw profit-mongering and we-love-our-fans service. It's a wide fence, but Microsoft may just be big enough to straddle it.

Friday, March 18, 2005

Halo 2 downloadable content announcement coming

The Korean Xbox Web site supposedly has a listing for a Halo 2 expansion pack up right now, and when asked about it Bungie had this to say:

"Next week, we’re going to have a major announcement about the details of our new maps. Right now, there are some dates, details and ideas out there that are actually wrong, so please take everything you read between now and then with a grain of salt. We can't talk about how and when the new maps will be released, we'll leave that to the smart folks who actually do all the logistical work for this stuff – marketing and PR, but we can tell you this much - our entire plan is designed to make new content available for everybody, those with Xbox Live and those without Xbox Live. We hope in the end, everyone will be satisfied."

I'm going to be pretty pissed if they try to make me pay for this stuff. Perhaps even moreso because I know I'll buy it.

Monday, March 14, 2005

More Evidence of Revolution Online

In an interview with 1up.com, Reggie Fils-Aime had this to say:

"And we're also putting out there, for our fans, the fact that there's some things we could have done better on previous systems. The whole Internet gaming piece, we missed the boat on GameCube. We won't miss the boat in the future."

I got to tell you, I like Fils-Aime. He's very candid, which is a refreshing change for the company that didn't want to show Mario Sunshine because of its "innovative" water pack. I think the fact that Nintendo keeps putting him in the spotlight shows that they are committed to changing. At least I hope so.

Three Contoller Slots on Xbox 2?

IGN has a great piece up right now called "Everything you wanted to know about Xbox 2." They've done an excellent job of combining a lot of information, culled from a lot of sources, into a very readable and jargon-free analysis. But, one part really jumped out at me: Three controller slots? Here's what IGN had to say:

"There are three controller slots, two controllers on front of the system, plus one USB on the back."

Later they claim that the system will be backwards-compatible if the optional hard drive is purchased. Well, if it's going to be backwards compatible, it better have four controller slots. Not only that, but I don't see why four player games wouldn't be important in the next generation, even with Live.

Here's hoping this information is incorrect.

Thursday, March 10, 2005

Music Player for Every Game


GDC 2005 Xbox Next UI
Originally uploaded by Jerkob.
Here's a shot from IGN of the UI. Don't really know if I'm allowed to post this type of thing, but oh well. I'm sure if it ever becomes a problem I'll find out.

The Plot Thickens

With NCL President Iwata's recently expressed fears that Revolution could be too innovative to garner third-party interest and now this from NOA sales and marketing executive Reggie Fils-Aime, I'm really curious to find out what Revolution is all about.

"We are absolutely committed to the sense of community and the worldwide sense of playing games against each other. We're going to be delivering that on every future system to the best of our ability." - Fils-Aime in an interview with IGN.

The interview also answered a mystery that has remained unsolved since E3: Reggie prefers kicking ass to taking names.

GDC Musings

Some pretty interesting news coming out of GDC today. Seems like Xbox Next is going down the path I'd like to see it go down, namely greater Live integration, HD support, etc. IGN has posted some pictures of a presentation on the features of the Xbox Next Live UI that evidently will be integrated with every game. It sounds quite extensive, and I'm glad to see that they've extended the custom soundtrack option so that every game will allow it. Nice.

IGN also had an interesting article on one of the panel discussions. The discussion meandered quite a lot, or perhaps violently zigzagged, as it sounds like the group was pretty lively, but one topic was gaming's need to break into the mainstream. But what is the mainstream, the group asked? Their answers are pretty thorough and worth a read. I'd say that gaming is in the mainstream when questions posed to supermodels such as "What do you think of gamers?" don't make any sense, just like asking her "What do you think of movie-watchers?" wouldn't make any sense.

Thursday, March 03, 2005

Resident Evil 4 = Masterpiece

Resident Evil 4 is a masterpiece of videogame design. I place it alongside Metroid Prime as the greatest videogame experience of this console generation.

Playing through the game there is the constant feeling that the designers thought carefully about each and every element; not just one aspect of it, but really contemplated each element from several angles: is this functional? is this neeeded? is this cool? does this fit with the characters? does this contribute to the atmosphere? is this fun?

The hallmark of such a good game is that its individual elements meld into one cohesive whole, far greater than "that one cool sequence" or "that awesome boss." Resident Evil 4 is truly amazing.

One caveat, though: I almost wouldn't put this in the same genre as the other Resident Evils. To me, it wasn't nearly as scary or suspenseful, because I almost always knew what was coming and I was confident I could handle it. Of course, if lousy control is a requirement for epic scares, maybe we should just let them go.

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Nintendo backtracks just a little more...

I plan on posting a short piece on Nintendo's slow switch from releasing Revolution "with or before" their competitors to releasing "in the same time frame." Here's the lastest refinement from Satoru Iwata in the same Spong.com interview I mentioned earlier:

“And of course, I cannot comment on when we’ll begin selling the Revolution. But I believe that our target audience is totally different than that Sony is aiming at with the PlayStation 3. And therefore slight differences in launch timings will not be very important. For example, if we were to launch a month sooner or a month later, I really don’t think it will matter a great deal."

Revolution taking a cue from DS?

Spong.com has posted an interview with Nintendo President Satoru Iwata in which he says:

"I will tell you that the Nintendo DS is the key indication for what Nintendo really wants to do with the Revolution."

I haven't heard a statement this direct about the Revolution's relationship to the DS before. I hope that Revolution will take a cue from the WiFi aspects of the DS rather than the touch screen. That would make sense, also, given some of the other cryptic comments Nintendo executives have allowed to slip out. For example, this from Reggie Fils-Aime in the November GameInformer:

"We believe that the consumer wants more in the area of community, and we are looking at how we deliver that. ... What I am saying is that with our next home console we will address the area of gamer community. ... We are passionate about enabling our gamers to play their friends [and] to play with others across long distances."

Sunday, February 20, 2005

Zelda GCN reminders

It's being reported that in an interview with a French magazine, Eiji Aonuma said that the Gamecube Legend of Zelda will be "very, very beautiful." So that's good. I thought I'd compile a list of some other tidbits about the game we've heard in the past. This is from the E3 2004 roundtable discussion on the game with Aonuma and Miyamoto:

"One thing that I can say is that up until now we've really focused on a young link maturing into a more grown up Link. This time we're going to be focusing more heavily on a more teenage/grown-up Link and so with that in mind we're going to be looking at different ways to express Link as an older teenager and trying to incorporate those types of features into the game."

And this:
"I'd like to see a lot of new ideas implemented, especially in the realm of puzzle-solving and that sort of thing. So I've asked Mr. Aonuma to focus his attention on that."

And this:
"I actually don't want Link to talk very much."

The last one I find unfortunate. The game is going to be great, there's no doubt about it. But I think it won't be revolutionary. It won't show the way forward for the genre like Ocarina of Time did. But, I think it could - especially if they combined some of the conventions of a Square-Enix grand RPG with the all-out fun of Zelda. That hasn't been done, I think. And that would be awesome.

Saturday, February 19, 2005

Online vs. Print

A post at www.damnedmachines.com lists reasons that print supposedly sucks. Their number one reason is this:

"This point has been brought up already, multiple times. You can try to keep selling a magazine to people who don't realize that sites like GameSpot do exactly what you do and do it better or you can realize that you, your writers and your audience are growing older. ... Where are the articles on people using DDR for weight loss? On couples going on virtual dates in World of Warcraft? On the difficulties of gaming while parenting? On people who quit their jobs to game? A day in the life of a MMORPG GM? On the weirdos working on Sociolotron? On industry gossip? There's a million ideas out there like this."

While it's true that the gaming magazines need to move toward covering the culture more than just the games, I don't see the internet sites writing these stories, either. Yes, there may be personal accounts of such issues; but researched, investigative articles on these topics aren't to be found on the internet, either.

They go on to "liveblog" EGM quite critically, a truly misguided choice - of all the gaming magazines out there, EGM is trying the hardest to move the industry into the mainstream. They have the most non-game ads, they expanded their "Press Start" section about the culture to almost half the magazine, and they bring in guest writers every issue to report on trends.

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Amped 3 for Xbox 360?

Of all the rumored names for the next Xbox, I really like Xenon the best. It's too bad I'm pretty sure that isn't going to win out, but Xbox 360 has a nice ring to it, too. If the name ends up being correct, I wonder if it will be called just the Xbox still or if people will start calling it the 360.

Well, no matter what's it called, Amped 3 is going to play on it. I suppose this isn't huge news, but it's the only "exclusive" information I really have. So I thought I'd try to spread it around. See, I'm a student at BYU with Sean Neff, who runs some snowboard clothing company (that I've never heard of, but others have). They've had him record some stuff for Amped 3 (he was in Amped 2 as well) and he told me that they got about halfway into production when it was moved from the Xbox to the 360. And this was several months ago - launch title, perhaps?

Better over time...

This is my first time blogging. I hope to fill this space with interesting analysis of trends in the videogame world, as well as a review now and then. It's more for me; as an outlet for the ideas I have, than to try and really create anything incredibly unique.

However, one thing that is missing from a lot of online (and print, for that matter) videogame journalism is research. That Metroid Prime 2: Echoes is going to have a multiplayer mode is reported as shocking news months after Miyamoto indicated as much in an interview; that Nintendo doesn't come through at E3 is treated as a surprise despite a history of overpromising. A lot of information can be culled and pieced together from the various online and print sources and I think I can do that well.

I do think that most videogame journalists do an admirable job, I'm not an IGN hater, for example. But that doesn't mean I'm not willing to see if I can add something worthwhile.