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
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.
"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.
"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.
"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
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.
"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.
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.
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.
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