Jay Stuckwisch (JS): So, we’ve got Gunstringer here.
Tyler Thomas (TT): And that’s a Kinect title, correct?
JS: That’s right.
TT: So, what’s the backstory behind this marionette here?
JS: So, you control an undead marionette cowboy–you’re actually the puppeteer controlling him–in a play. We set up the beginning to show you everybody coming to see you. We actually added a lot of live-action sequences–people responding to how you do as you play the game. You run around the game–it’s a shooter-on-rails, and basically you paint over the enemies with your right hand, and with a recoil gesture over your solider, you hit all of the targets. With your left hand you control his left-to-right movement and move your hand up to jump. It takes a bit of coordination but…you pick it up really quick.
TT: So, is the humor in this game similar to Splosion Man/Ms. Splosion Man?
JS: Yeah, it’s kinda Twisted Pixel’s thing; we like to bring a lot of humor into each of our games. While this game looks a bit more serious, there’s still a lot of humor in this game.
TT: Like the human hands and feet that I just saw?
JS: (Laughs) Yeah, yeah, we’re always trying to break that fourth wall; it’s the developers, they’re in there . They can help you or hinder you–you can’t really tell; you have to feel it out. But yeah, we have a lot of fun with all of that full-motion stuff.
TT: I’ve gotta say, this is very cool. I love the marionette character.
JS: Yeah, we designed him after a real marionette we made for modeling when we shot our live action stuff that we had help from Jim Henson’s [Studio].
TT: Oh, wow! So you’ve got a Muppet, basically, who’s shooting bad guys.
JS: Yeah, they’re dolls and puppets; the whole game is set to have that homemade look: cardboard trees, backdrops, characters made out of straw, out of yarn, and some Henson-looking faces, even. It’s got a unique look and feel to it.
TT: Now, I just saw this ‘Texas Fisherman’ pop-up. What’s that all about?
JS: Well, when an enemy like that appears, there’s a slo-mo pan that shows a little blurb about them, about who you’re shooting at.
TT: And now I see that taco there.
JS: Yeah, that’s one of the power-ups you can get. the taco fires him up and makes him run faster and doubles your points as long as you keep hitting targets.
TT: When is this game coming out?
JS: It’s still a work in progress yet, but we’re going to have a release date this spring.

I then got to play a round. Like Jay said, it was tricky to start playing, but I got used to the controls quickly. Another part I liked was that there was a narrator that actually announced your actions–painting six (the maximum) targets would make the narrator say something like, “He lined up all six of his targets,” in an old, Western style of talking. It was a good touch of humor and personality; I’m really excited for this game, and I hope to play it again soon!

Infinity Ward and Activision Fallout

Activision and Infinity Ward had quite the playground brawl this year. According to G4TV, a lawsuit of thirty-eight people from Infinity Ward was filed to sue Activision for not paying royalties. The suit was filed from anywhere between 75-500 million dollars. Activision spokesman Dan Amrich stated that employees who stay with Activision will have a bigger bonus due to the departure of these employees. The fallout may have been frightening to CoD fans, but I don’t believe there is anything to worry about. As far as Activision holding money as ransom, it almost appears they were acting as financial terrorists, bribing employees to stay for a bigger bonus. So much for integrity.

Halo: Reach and Call of Duty: Black Ops Continue to Soar

Gamers across the world most likely had the same two nights circled on the calendar. The release of Halo: Reach and Call of Duty: Black Ops sales are just too ridiculous to wrap your mind around. Reach hit $200 million dollars in the first day, where Black Ops hit an unbelievable $650 million dollars in the first week. But true gamers know the integrity of a game is not measured in sales figures. Both games delivered to their dedicated fans by giving us another solid product. Late nights that turn into early mornings of gore, grenades, and glory is something all gamers look for in a game. Being able to consistently play these titles until the next release is a true accomplishment for their developers.

Xbox 360 and PS3 Indulge in Motion Controls

Although Nintendo stands by their “FIRST!” statement, it did not stop Microsoft and Sony from hopping aboard the motion control train. That isn’t to say the death of the controller is soon to come (please pray it isn’t), but it is to say that a new breed of gaming is here. Motion control will go a long way and should have its place amongst the traditional style of gaming. Hardcore fans may pout and grumble about how uberly noobish the Kinect and motion controls are, however, as all of the major consoles have indulged in this trend, motion controls now have put both feet on the ground and are looking to run away with the next big thing.

Story! Story! Story!

After the release of games such as Alan Wake and Heavy Rain, I was ecstatic. Not because these games were the next big thing in the market, but because these games focused on something that has been slowly pushed aside as an integral part in gaming: the story. Both games will have the player on the edge of their seat, forgetting they even have a controller in their hands. The narration and unfolding of these stories is powerful and makes it difficult to put these games down. Although both games had their flaws, it is a relief to see how story is brought back to life in these titles. If more recent titles put forth half the effort that Alan Wake and Heavy Rain did into their stories, those games would be much more exciting.

Back to the Classics

Nostalgia was quite the theme in 2010. Gamers got to see many of their favorite titles return in glorious fashion. While most people were too busy with Reach and CoD, most players completely forgot the father of the FPS was re-released in GoldenEye. Games such as Metroid, Donkey Kong, and NBA Jam! made their return. Polished re-releases of these games can go a long way for players; however, if the developers dare change a thing about what made the game great in the first place, there will be hell to pay. It is a good feeling to sit down and watch childhood favorites come to life again, and these really did in 2010.

The Not-So Surprising Blockbusters

Now, I know what you’re thinking, where is the talk about your favorite title this year? Frankly, games like Mass Effect 2, Red Dead Redemption, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, World of Warcraft: Catacylsm, Fable III and God of War 3 should have touched you in some shape or form this year because they were all great in their own right. But when we look back at these titles, I believe they landed right where we expected them too. You can pick and choose what needs to be implemented or what should be disposed of in these games, but for the most part they delivered. The only disappointment I had with these titles is the feeling that none may stand the test of time. It will only take another year or so until we get another game like God of War, Mass Effect, and the like. Although these games were very, very, good, nothing stands out to me as an all time hit.

2010 brought some great memories and bloody deaths. Sure, there are some big happenings that I didn’t quite touch on, but to me these events really stand out. 2011 looks very promising, and hopefully it can give gamers a game to stand the test of time. The direction of the industry looks promising based on what we saw this year; the only question is if 2011 can prove to be a better sequel.

I’ve been reading articles left and right about Kinect’s “shortcomings.” While I feel that it has shortcomings I’m not going to harp on it because I see it for what it was meant to be: a gimmick to top that of the Wii, or in other words a business plan to increase sales. The life-cyle of the Xbox 360 is on the decline and this is an attempt to bring in a bigger audience and garner fresh sales. Now all the buzz it got only a year ago has turned to skepticism: It only supports 2 players, it showed some lag on Jimmy Kimmel, and now a report that analyzes all of the shortcomings before the product even hits shelves and predicts it flopping.

None of these new motion control systems are without fault. In fact the ones we have now aren’t all that great. What we will have by the end of 2010 is a gimmick war that doesn’t show a whole lot of promise for the game industry.

The Wii- It’s far from new, but it deserves mention first because it birthed this whole notion of needing some kind of motion controller to play games. The Wii’s controls were under-utilized though. How many games have you played for the Wii that really seemed to utilize the control method effectively? One of the best examples I can think of is Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, and it worked brilliantly in that. Then it gradually turned into an exercise machine and it seemed like motion controls were just turned into a point and click deal.

Playstation Move- Five years after the Wii set it up, the folks at Sony watched it “evolve” and took it for themselves. The reason why move looks more impressive than what Nintendo has is because they have had five years to see what worked and what didn’t with Nintendo and improve upon it. Another advantage they have is that they get fluid 1:1 motion without making you buy a an attachment in something that looks like a controller condom. The motions aren’t pre-rendered either which shows that they are at least trying to expand on the concept.

Kinect- Microsoft’s controller-less add-on for the 360 that looks to be everything you need for social media, but not video games. It will stream ESPN and you can also video chat with it, but in terms of gaming you can play all of the party games that Nintendo or Sony wouldn’t take. We have all heard the doomsaying I alluded to earlier. It is the Xbox’s attempt to cater to the Wii crowd and it seems that they are trying to do that through XBLA and party games. When analysts predict failure it seems that you might need to play all your cards or start bluffing to save face.

Where Microsoft and Sony fail is that they are simply cloning Nintendo’s strategy instead of trying to expand upon it. I like a few party games every once and a while, but not when they are the majority of games on the shelf whenever I’m browsing. If Sony and Microsoft want to get people excited for their new products then raise the bar instead of keeping it level.

When it comes to choosing between the three of them then my honest recommendation would be the Playstation Move. It may just be the fulfillment of promises Nintendo made years ago, but it is better late than never. At least they have shown how it can work with fps and racing games. So as far as promise goes Sony has more. Nintendo had their chance and went more casual friendly, which is fine, and Microsoft has gone towards that end as well only commenting that they would like to see an FPS on Kinect. I will take guarantees over like to’s.

-Cody Toothman

I’m sitting here at the Microsoft Press Conference waiting for it to start. This is going to be a point-by-point blog of the updates and information as we discover it here at E3. I’ll post all of my impressions as the conference starts and goes, and we’ll see where it takes us! (- Dave)

2010, baby

Read on for the entire story!

- Conference just started now. A little later than I thought. Call of Duty Black Ops trailer is kicking off the event. Same trailer as revealed before, looks good on the big screen. We start seeing gameplay, takes place in a jungle cave. Flashlight/gun combo, similar to tacitical knife, but with a flashlight. Skip ahead, stealing a Hind using a noob tube. Game looks great in the jungle environment, I’m liking the change of pace for CoD. Now flying in the Hind, I believe you control the gunner. Looks good!

- All CoD add-ons and mappacks will now launch first on XBox 2010-2012. Exclusive deal between Microsoft and Activision.

- Hideo Kojima introduces Shigenabu Matsunabu to show of Zan-Datsu. Zan = To Cut. Datsu = To take. You cut up the enemies an take there abilities. Game is: Metal Gear Solid: Lightning Bolt Rising. You can cut at will. Slow-mo an enemy and choose your slice. Show off slicing an enemy and choosing your cuts. Slice up a watermelon, very cool.

- Cliffy B comes on stage. He is giving a live showing of 4-player co-op gameplay. Showing is in a jungle setting. There is a “Retro Lancer”, Cliffy choses to use. New tentacle/laser creature comes out and attacks. New monsters pop and explode, and can mutate. Giant monster comes out, they shoot it and bullets bounce off, then run away. Hammer of Dawn attacks, cannot kill creature.

- Peter Molyneux comes out to show off Fable III. Can you finally cut down trees? Takes place in Albion. I can’t tell too much from the trailer.

- Microsoft’s “new partner”. Crytek shows of Codename: Kingdoms. Spartan standing and bleeding, gorgeous graphics but probably not in-game.

- Bungie comes out, 2 Billion online hours played of Halo, Halo: Reach is introduced to the show. We start by seeing assault rifle, pods dropping off Elites on Earth. Player sprints into action. Melee attack has been extended, animation where you stab the enemy from behind. Big thing: Controlling a space ship in space and having a space battle. Space battle looks like the most interesting and new component of the game.

- Microsoft rep comes out to talk about Kinect (Previously Project NATAL). Kinect works for entire 360 menu. Wave, and it recognizes you and signs you in. Browse with your hand in new Kinect menu. Voice recognition works as well.

- Shows of Zune. Shows how easy it is to use your hands to watch a movie, fastforward/rewind with a hand motion and use your voice to pause/play. Starts playing Justin Bieber music…

- Shows off Video Kinect. Laura comes in to talk about it, she has zillions of gamer points, no joke. Shows off video chat , Lollip0p is the username, save it and friend her. Essentially Skype on your 360. You can choose a video, and watch a video together while talking. Or even play a game. (Didn’t show it, though). Sound quality is actually pretty good. Kinect automatically follows people around as your move. Creepy?

- ESPN on 360. Can watch live events on demand. Little conference room area where your avatar hangs out, and you can even make your avatar join a sports team. Shows percent of fans on each team. You can talk and tell Kinect to replay when you want. Real time polls/trivia/etc. will go on during the game. You can check out scores of other current games, and switch on the fly to another game. FREE for all Xbox Live Gold members!

- Kinect (Project NATAL) games shown. Kinectimals shows a little girl playing with her pet (in-game) pet tiger “skittles”. Can talk and use hands to interact. She shows skittles motion, and skittles follows. She hides from skittles, he goes up to camera to start looking for her.

- Rare studios shows Kinect Sports. Pump up the crowd by talking to them. Show off track game, they run in place, jump for jumping over hurdles. Chariots of Fire song sounds off at the replay. Kinect Sports includes: Track and Field, Soccer, Bowling, Ping Pong, Boxing, and Volleyball. Uses your avatar, looks like the new Wii Sports.

- Kinect Joy Ride shows off a racing game, use your hands like you’re using a steering wheel. Push your hands forward for a boost. Looks like an arcadey racing game, where you can do crazy tricks.

- “Kinect Adventures!” is next. Looks like an obstacle course, try to collect pins and avoid obstacles. Friends can play together. A friend walks in, and it automatically goes to split screen. First adventure is a moving platform with obstacles. Looks like a fun dodging type of game. Next is two girls on a raft trying to collect pins, work together to jump and move around. Pictures are taken mid-gameplay. You shift side-to-side to move around. Reminds me of Disney Quest, but in your home. Very cool.

- More Kinect games from other studios. Ubisoft shows off a cool looking work-out game. No in-game footage is shown in commercial, Very Wii-like commercial. “Your Shape Fitness Evolved”. You walk into your gym. Girl is wearing sweater, and takes it off. The game can sense it. Body scanner scans various parts of your body, and identifies muscle groups. Takes measurements of your arm-span, body, and dimensions. Fitness classes, Yoga, and gym activities. (Seems like a similar set-up to Wii Fit). Shows your… muscleish body glob in the screen so you can see how you look on screen with the in-game characters. Game-like combat training to make working out seem more enjoyable. Zen game ends the demo. Game tracks your joints to make sure you are doing it properly.

- MTV games and Harmonix (Guitar Hero/Rock Band) are next up. Show off Dance Central. Tracks your movements as your dance. Essentially the Guitar-Hero of dance. Looks like you have stars that you earn, just like Guitar Hero. Little movement chart on the right shows you what to do. Makes you come out like a dance star. Very cool. No pads, no mats. Full body dancing. Big pop tracks are included, authentic choreographers and original music video dances are in the game. “Break it down” mode helps do it slow, and one-move at a time. Beginner moves eventually lead to complex routines. Can do very basic moves and advanced moves for skill level. Not gonna lie, this looks AWESOME. Now I just need a bboy game for myself.

- Kinect, LucasArts, and Microsoft present Kinect Star Wars game. Essentially a forward moving 3rd person game. (You move back and forth only). Looks like the essence of an Arcade game, but on a console.

- Forza Kinect game is up next. Looks gorgeous, no steering wheel. (Which could be bad not having the physical object). You can walk around the car, look at the car and inspect parts of the car. Porn for a car nut, basically. Get in the car, then start it. Coming 2011.

- New XBox 360 is announced. Built-in WiFi N. 250gb harddrive included. Same price as normal XBox 360. $299. Shipping new 360 to retailers TODAY. Available in stores later this week. Microsoft pulls an Oprah and ships one to everyone in the convention center.

Conference is over. Looks like the focus was on Kinect. Some cool hardcore games, a lot of casual games. But, admittedly, these games look very tight!

- Dave

The Outlaws to the End Co-Op Mission Pack will feature six all-new cooperative multiplayer missions to play with 2-4 players.  This will be a completely free download that we will have ready for you to download and play at some time in June.

These six explosive and epic missions will play out across the game world, including:

“Walton’s Gold”
Walton’s Gang have taken control of a mining camp rich with gold.  Fight through the camp and load your mine cart with as much gold as you can carry and get out as fast as you can – Walton’s boys have rigged the place to blow!

“The River”
Ride a raft down river, taking out rebel encampments along the way until you reach the rebel stronghold of Nosalida and a final epic battle for the town’s massive weapons caches. Watch out for Gatling gun-equipped enemy rafts.

“Ammunition”
The Mexican Army has the town of Tesoro Azul under siege.  Storm the gates under heavy cannon, Gatling gun and sniper fire to destroy the Mexican artillery placements.

Plus three more missions to be revealed in detail soon.

The Outlaws to the End Co-Op Mission Pack will also yield additional multiplayer XP rewards, and brand new Achievements/Trophies to unlock.

Screens:

Taking back the town of Tesoro Azul in "Ammunition".

Engaging the Walton Gang from an advantageous elevated position in "Walton's Gold".

Heading downstream towards the rebel stronghold of Nosalida in "The River".

By the looks of it, Rockstar is putting just as much effort into developing the multiplayer element of Red Dead as they have in the single-player.

- NB

(via Rockstar Games)

-NB

Check out that shit-eating grin.

My roommate recently got Final Fantasy XIII and as something of a voyeur (I freely admit it!) I enjoy watching her play.  It took her a while to decide on her purchase – putting down $50+ on a game that you’re not sure you’re going to enjoy, particularly when you’re a poorly paid college student who has to pay rent, car payments, for groceries (well, half of the above), is something hard to do.  This is multiplied when the games have recently been hit and miss – Final Fantasy XII, for instant, earned my roommate’s ire by having a “completely incomprehensible storyline” and “a bunch of idiots for characters.”  But after we had talked to a lot of our mutual friends who had purchased it at the midnight opening and after reading quite a few reviews,  both good and bad, she purchased the game and has settled in to play it while I watch and do my homework.

One thing that immediately caught our attention concerned the characters within the story. I mean, any game, movie, or novel is going to have generic stereotyped characters – so when people were complaining about that in the reviews (and by god, were they), I didn’t pay much attention.  However, both the roommate and I had heard several people complaining about “the black guy” and “the kid.”

The issue was, when she started playing, both of us thought…those were some of the more tolerable characters.

I mean, not to say that the others were annoying.  The only character we intensely and immediately hated was Vanille, the cutesy/clumsy/polite/optimistic chick. I mean, POSSIBLE SPOILER WARNING I DON’T KNOW, after wandering around Pulse for two hours SURROUNDED BY  CRYSTALS THE WHOLE TIME, Vanille brightly notes: “LOOK AT ALL THE CRYSTALS!”  My roommate wryly noted: “Oh, really? There are crystals? I never noticed.” Now just imagine a nigh-running commentary from Vanille with inane comments just like this, and we want to end up killing her.

Otherwise, all the characters are tolerable, and we actually end up liking them.  One that we were particularly shocked by – due to he fact that he quickly achieved the status as our favorite – was Sazh, the aforementioned “black guy.” Yeah, he’s very stereotypical black guy – in fact, I’d dare say he’s so stereotypical he actually sidesteps into, pardon me, “wigga” territory.  Sure, he never breaks down into PIZZ-DIZZLE and DYN-O-MITE, but he rides close to the line. But off that, he’s absolutely great to have around. First of all, I don’t know, maybe it’s the girl in us, but the baby chocobo he keeps in his afro (yes, if you’ve been living under a rock, he has a baby chocobo in his afro) is absolutely adorable and makes us glee and giggle every time it appears.  But the real and true reason we love him is he says exactly what we’re thinking.

Say at the beginning.  The game had played a long in depth cutscene immediately miring us into a plot neither of us understood. At one point, a character said…god, I can’t remember, but something so littered with “l’cie” and “fal’cie” that I looked to my roommate and said “What are they talking about?” Immediately, Sazh reiterated my question with “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!” At some point later, Sazh said something along the lines of “I have no idea what’s going on, but I’m in!” I can get behind that.   I respect a character who has no idea what’s going on but still will go along with it.

Bethany, the roommate, hasn’t finished the game by far.  Recently we were introduced to Fang (I think, it was so brief I can’t remember), and we’re hovering between tentatively liking her and being vaguely concerned that she might be going the way of Vanille (as in: an annoying character we roll our eyes at).

But the roommate and I are both easy to please, and considering the main complaint we heard from all of our mutual friends concerned the state of the characters, as stated, they’re not bad. Sazh? Pretty awesome and relatable. Snow’s likeable. Lightning is even likeable if you liked angsty-Cloud in Final Fantasy VII (only NOW he has boobs and, like, pink hair!). My roommate loves Hope because he’s “angsty”. Sure, they’re nothing new or special, nor do they break stereotypes, but you can get along with them, and a game is practically unplayable without a likeable cast.

Now we just have to get to the gameplay rather than five minutes of walking followed by three hours of cutscenes.

-maq

FIGHT!

 

“JDCR” and “NIN” both from Korea win TEKKEN 6 Global Championship

            Since October 2009 the world’s greatest TEKKEN players have squared off to see who is the supreme TEKKEN master of the world.  They have hailed from countries such as France, Israel, Korea, and the United States but only 2 world champions were ultimately crowned (1 for PS3 and 1 for Xbox 360).       

      

            After months of regional and national tournaments it all came to a close March 7th with the world finals being held in Tokyo, Japan.  The finalists for PS3 were “JDCR” from Korea and “YUU” from Japan while the Xbox 360 final was between “NIN” from Korea and “Boradoldol” also from Korea.  After the smoke cleared “JDCR” and “NIN” were the last ones standing thus crowning them the world TEKKEN 6 champions.

So my boyfriend got Mass Effect 2, and it got me interested. So I started playing Mass Effect (the first iteration), and well, it got me hooked. I’m a good ways into ME2, and I’ve gained an unhealthy obsession with the games. I thought I’d share some of my thoughts about my playthrough of the first game. It can be a refersher course for some of you guys who haven’t played it in two years, or a puzzling series of doodles for those of you who have never played the game before.

Be warned, though, SPOILERS AHOY.

That’s all from my end. Let’s do this again sometime!

Me? I’m going to be spending the next week romancing the FUCK out of Garrus. You heard me.

Until later,

-Annie

I didn't mention graphically, but I think you have an idea now.

 

 

 5. More Weapon Types- I would have just been happy with the addition of heavy weapons and submachineguns, but they upped the ante and have added in more than just that. They also got rid of the grenade, which was just a bit shy of being worthless in the first game. The fact that weapon skills have been erased is also very welcome and any character may use any weapon that their class in trained for to full effect. It leaves me to upgrade my intimidation or charm skills without worrying about weapon proficiency.

 4. More detailed worlds- I’m really excited for this one. I got tired of the monotonous terrain provided by the first game.  Most of the planets had the same cheap thrills, but the promise has been made to have more to explore, other than an ore patch, or an anomaly here and there. Inside locations could use a nice overhaul as well. The only difference between a lot of the inside locations was how the boxes were stacked and a different position of environmental hazards that were fairly worthless.

 3. As far as I know, no love interest- It may have been optional, but the achievement was still there encouraging it for completions sake. Personally, I disliked Ashley and Liara. Aside from that, the romance option serves no purpose in the story other than potentially complicating your decision on Virmire.  Kaidan always died in my games because the voice actor who supplied his voice was also Carth Onasi in KOTOR (I hated Carth beyond reason). I still can’t forget some of the awkward and weird dialogue that happens between you and Ashley if that road is taken.  If it actually had some kind of bearing to the story other than just one scene that occurs towards the end of the game then by all means include it if not keep your weird ass, poetry reading, socially awkward alien/human love interests out of the mix.

 2. The Overheat system replaced with collectible heat syncs- I found the overheat system annoying in the last game especially with Sniper Rifles and Shotguns especially since I would have fits of ADD and trigger-happiness that caused me to ignore certain things. I would have liked to be able to pull off more shots in rapid succession without waiting thirty seconds for the damn weapon to cool down. Three quick shots and 30 seconds of down time wasn’t a favorable method of combat, but Bioware has seemingly answered my concerns with this lovely addition/rework.

 1.Improved AI- I’m sure everybody was happy to hear this one. The A.I. will have more at their disposal than simply hiding or running at you in a straight line. The easiest thing to do on Mass Effect was just wait at the end of a corridor after you lured the enemies into it and blast the hell out of them as they ran straight into it. More calculating maneuvers are a welcome addition to rid the A.I. of the stupid World War 1 rush the trench tactic from the first game. Even the harder difficulty didn’t exactly supply a smarter batch of enemies and just made them capable of taking more bullets than Tony Montana at the end of Scarface, which is obscene.

 I have to hand it to Bioware for really taking the time to revamp some of these things. They could have just made it with the exact same system and probably still sold enough copies to be able to wallpaper their studio in one hundred dollar bills, but they decided not to go with the lazy approach and make some good faith changes that, at this stage, already make the game seem better. Even if my speculation for number three is wrong I’ll take all the other promises and implementations they made and kept, and lose myself in the vast Mass Effect universe.