Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Gaming Today

Gaming Today

Quake Arena Arcade Review

Posted: 20 Dec 2010 10:39 PM PST

Like most long-time hardcore gamers, I cut my online FPS teeth on Quake, and so I welcomed this year’s Quake III Arena revival. I don’t game on the PC much these days, though, because I don’t have a computer, so I’ve been waiting on the Xbox Live port rather than dominating asses on the free-to-play Quake Live. That XBLA port has now arrived, and it’s called Quake Arena Arcade, and I have played it.

While the game has a sorta new name, it’s still the same as always. It’s in HD, but since we always remember games looking much prettier than they actually did, Quake Arena Arcade will look pretty much exactly like you remember Quake III. It also plays the same; it’s as fast and furious as it always was. It’s the full package, too, as it comes with 42 maps, including twelve new, exclusive ones. It feels like and authentic, old school Quake experience, and in that way Pi Studios ultimately accomplished what they set out to do.

While the game does handle the way you expect it to, that’s not always a good thing. There is a steep learning curve here simply because it’s much more difficult to play with a gamepad than it is with a keyboard and mouse. The game is fast, and so it’s harder to be precise with your shots. If you’ve never played a PC Quake game and have instead spent most of your time with online FPSs on consoles, you’re gonna be in for a shock at just how fast this thing is.

For those not familiar with Quake III, know this: it’s entirely geared toward multiplayer. Yes, there is a single-player “campaign,” but that’s just a series of one-on-one battles with AI opponents, and you can also play matches offline with bots.

It’s good that you can do that, because the community as of right now is nonexistent, and you can’t use bots in online matches. Given that the game just came out less than a week ago, you would expect the community to be at its peak right now, but heaven help us if that’s the case. Matchmaking is extremely efficient, but that’s because almost nobody seems to be playing it. You might not find even a single game going on depending on what time of day it is, and if you do find a game I hope you wanna play deathmatch.

Quake Arena Arcade allows for up to 16 players in a match, but so far the most I’ve had in one game is eight, and we’ve usually had even fewer than that. Thankfully, the game has smaller maps to accomodate smaller crowds, but the game is at it’s best when you’ve got a s–tload of people playing on the larger maps.

It’s impossible for me to render judgment on this game, then, because I don’t feel like I ever got the full experience with it. While I believe the game would achieve greatness were there a thriving community for it, I never got to find out because the community seemed to be made up of me and maybe ten other people. How can I rate a game I am unable to fully appreciate? I feel like I should warn folks away from purchasing it due to the lack of any sort of community, but that’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. How about this: if you want to buy Quake Arena Arcade, make sure you’ve got a couple bros who will also buy it. Otherwise, it probably won’t be worth your $15.

Pros:

  • It’s a perfectly faithful Quake III port
  • Thank f–k for bots

Cons:

  • Nobody is playing it

NO FINAL SCORE

Gran Turismo 5 Gets Major Update, GT Academy

Posted: 20 Dec 2010 09:29 PM PST

When you picked up your copy of Gran Turismo 5 a few weeks back, you probably noticed an insert in there that said something about how being awesome at GT5 could earn you the chance to be awesome at driving a real-life fast car. This competition is called the GT Academy, and it starts now with this massive new 600mb update Sony has dropped on our asses today after a bit of previous teasing.

The GT Academy is a series of online time trials that you do over and over again in hopes of working your way up the leaderboards for your region so you can move on. The top 128 survive the first round, and then the top 16 and then so on. It should be noted that surviving round two also gets you a copy of Gran Turismo 5 for the Playstation 3. That is actually true. Furthermore, there will also be leaderboards for each participating nation, and you can earn prizes by hitting the top of those leaderboards. The full round-up on the tournament and prizes and everything is here at the Playstation Blog.

Also, you can get free themes and Home stuff just by participating.

The update is more than just GT Academy, though. Here’s what else is in there:

  • Seasonal Events –The Seasonal Events area has been added to the main GT Life screen. From here you can participate in official online events that will be open for a limited time only. Each event has specific entry and race conditions, and completing events earns you rewards and experience points. Compete here to see how you stack up to the rest of the world on the global leaderboards in the time trials and drift trial events.
  • Online Race Rewards and Experience – When you complete a race in the [Open Lobby] or [My Lounge], you will now gain rewards and experience. Even if you are focused more on playing online, you'll still be able to gain rewards and levels that you need to progress in [GT Life].
  • Hot Car Dealer – A new specialized dealership has also been added to the main GT Life screen, making it much easier to find popular and rare used cars compared to the standard Used Car Dealer.
  • Distance Driven and Number of Wins in Online Races – Your total distance driven online, and the number of wins you achieve in Open Lobby and My Lounge will now add to your Profile and Garage stats.
  • Improved Rewards for Playing – Earn increased rewards for winning races in both A-Spec and B-Spec mode through the end of January only. Now's the perfect chance to rack up points, build up your garage, and get ahead in the game.

Madden Curse: The Movie

Posted: 20 Dec 2010 07:14 PM PST

It’s no secret that bad things often happen to players who make the cover of entries in the Madden NFL franchise. (Drew Brees is still on the clock.) EA has finally started to see the humor in this, and so they’re developing (internally!) a movie about it. The synopsis, courtesy of The Wrap, which has the exclusive:

“The story will follow a former Madden video game champion who is forced out of retirement just as he finds himself on the corner of the game’s cover — and subject to the curse.”

Well, that does indeed sound like a movie. And it is a legitimately frightening scenario, because the Madden curse is a real thing.

GameFront 2010: The Year’s Most Overhyped Games

Posted: 20 Dec 2010 06:55 PM PST

As we wind down the year, we’ll be making a lot of resolutions we’ll likely not keep. Here’s one we intend to: We resolve not to spend every last cent we have trying convince people that a turd tastes like steak.

2010 had a lot of hit games, but it also saw a lot of money spent on marketing them. That paid off, frequently in staggering amounts, but just as often, we saw companies blow everything to sell a game nobody wanted or at least, nobody loved as much as they’d hoped. Maybe the game tanked, maybe it just sucked, or maybe it was just too overblown to justify the press. Whatever the cause, some games simply failed utterly to live up to their promises. The Jerks.

One can’t truly move on and embrace the future without examining, and skewering, the past. So here you go: GameFront’s staff picks for 2010′s most overhyped games.

Call of Duty: Black Ops

Ron Whitaker’s Pick

The advertising onslaught that accompanies any new Call of Duty game has always been impressive, but Black Ops took it to a whole new level. From the "Activisionpalooza" event at E3, to the controversial Kobe Bryant commercial at launch, Activision spared no expense in promoting this game. Because of this, there was almost no way the game could live up to the hype it generated, even if it was the best game of the year.

Black Ops was far from the best game of the year. It had a frustratingly predictable storyline that didn't even require the player to participate much in its resolution. The multiplayer was forgettable, combining elements of previous games in the series with a very few new ideas.

It's not that Black Ops is bad, so much as it is that it's forgettable. It's an average game that couldn't possibly justify the hype attached to it. Of course, it's sold like hotcakes, so all that hype accomplished something, at least.

Rock Band 3

Ross Lincoln’s Pick

The Rock Band series is pretty amazing, in that they somehow managed to take the solo-addictiveness of Guitar Hero and translate it to a full-band format. A collection of mixed-bag songs (that everyone loves), alcohol, and not having to spend a fortune at a bar made an instant party for you and four friends. We love the games, of course — they’re fun and cool — but one they they are not is "musical" — at least in the sense that you're actually making music. They are, after all, just karaoke games with amazing props.

That's not a problem for someone like me — I don’t actually want to be a musician. I don't want to be a race car driver either, but Mario Kart rules. I suspect it’s pretty much the same for most people, yet for some reason, pro musicians really hate music games with fiery-hot passion normally reserved for soccer rivalries. They act like music games are a threat the very existence of professional music (despite the fact that these fake music-playing games have delivered millions of real dollars via licensed music).

The pilots union doesn't seem that angry about PC flight simulator games, which don't strap you into a realistic cockpit that kills you if you crash. You know why? Because they aren't threatened by the prospect that people who have no interest in being a pilot might want to simulate it for fun. But for pro musicians it’s constant bitching about “These Kids Today” and “If They Spent As Much Time Playing A Real Instrument As They Did This Damned Game They'd Be Real Musicians” and all that nonsense. You'd think the makers of the Rock Band series would realize that, and be all "Give it a rest, gramps. It's a game, not a career path". But for some reason, this silliness actually affected someone at the top. Which brings us to Rock Band 3.

Rock Band 3 was announced like the coronation of a new monarch. They dominated E3 audio from across the convention center, released a ton of ads, announced prestige expansion packs, really did everything under the sun to turn the third installment of the series into a event. They also made significant changes to the series, most famously, the silly "awesome" new controllers for Rock Band 3's "Pro Mode.” These controllers are scary accurate approximations of real instruments. The guitar controller now looks like a real guitar, complete with almost-functional strings. And the 25-key keyboard works just like a real one. They're really cool, shockingly realistic, and actually reinvent the music game in tangible ways. Critics agree, and Rock Band 3 is one of the most acclaimed games of 2010.

The obvious problem here is that controllers in these games aren't supposed to be learning aids, they're supposed to be tactile air guitars. After all, it's still just a Karaoke game. The point of Karaoke isn't to become a real singer, it's to enjoy the hell out of yourself singing songs you love. And contra the idiots who like to complain about These Damn Games, people don't buy games like Rock Band 3 in order to learn how to play an instrument. They buy them in order to mock-rock the hell out to songs they love.

Look, it's an impressive game, but the misguided attempt to move it somewhat closer to an authentic experience has detracted from the experience of pretending, with props, which is probably an essential part of why these games were once so popular. Hell, after a few hours even I started to think "if I'm going to spend so much time pretending to play a game, I might as well actually play a game." Zing. All the marketing in the world can’t fix that problem. Just ask Tron Legacy.

Millions were invested in the development of Rock Band 3. Millions more were spent on the massive ad campaign. So how'd it pay off for them? It didn't. Rock Band 3 flopped big.

It’s true that music games have experienced sluggish and declining sales over the last year. Maybe it's oversaturation, maybe tastes have just changed, but whatever it is, it’s bad. The makers of Rock Band 3 aimed BIG, but the irony here is that they tried to split the difference between being taken seriously and being awesome and fun and they ended up with something most people just don’t want to play. Oops.

Disney Epic Mickey

Phil Hornshaw’s Pick

Not to keep harping on Warren Spector's love letter to Disney and its theme parks, but goddamn if that game didn't have a lot of epic talk swirling around it for the months before its release.

The hype was even more pronounced if you were a games journalist in Los Angeles. A month before the game came out, we were all invited out to Disneyland to wander the attractions with Spector himself, riding the rides, talking about inspiration, and even touring Walt Disney's secret apartment located over the fire station on Main Street U.S.A. (which is replicated as an underwhelming secret in the game — another case of over-hype).

Disney went far out of its way to convince us that if there was ever a game that was true to its license, it was Epic Mickey. All kinds of research and vault-searching was done for the game, and supposedly every pixel is inspired by a real thing or a Disney cartoon, and some extreme pains were taken during the course of development to make sure every mouse hair and paint stroke was in place.

As has been said repeatedly to this point (by me and others), so much time was spent on the hype portions of the game, Junction Point seems to have overlooked the game portions of it. There are quite a few technical problems with the game, and for a title where so much care was taken to get the little things right, it's almost weird so little was spent on the big things.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II

Maybe it's just me, but I had been looking forward to the follow-up to The Force Unleashed basically since I finished with the original. That game had its flaws, but I loved the story and the production values — and being an uber-jedi was a really good time.

So I figured when the inevitable sequel dropped, even though the clone storyline sounded potentially stupid, LucasArts would have at least amped up the formula and created the game we had all hoped for. I was also looking forward to another great story, a come-from-behind winner that defied its premise and impressed us all, the same way its predecessor did.

But instead of an awesome, problem-fixing follow-up to a flawed but great game, what we got was a super-short cash-in follow to a great game. Sure, LucasArts fixed a few of the problems — targeting works better and Starkiller is a much more capable, unstoppable killing machine in this go-round — but the game is merciless in its brevity and the story is absolutely terrible.

Any sales of The Force Unleashed II are 100-percent hype-driven — it even garnered a decent overall score from critics, for some reason. Apparently not everyone agrees with me, but when it comes to this Star Wars installment, the game is all talk and very little substance.

Heavy Rain

Phil Owen’s Pick

Heavy Rain was gonna be a totally new kind of game. It was gonna be a really great mystery and tell an emotionally affecting story and wooo hoooo whatever. And it was gonna be a technical marvel, taking full advantage of the power of the Playstation 3. It wasn't gonna be f–king crazy and weird like Quantic Dream's previous effort, Indigo Prophecy.

All right. So it was a totally new kind of game, in that it melds a branching storyline with 3D adventure game mechanics and YAY quick-time events. I guess that's new. And there are things QD nailed, like delivering an absolutely oppressive mood. But that's mostly undercut by having a bunch of French people try to voice Americans, which destroys everything the game tries to build pretty much whenever somebody other than Madison or Scott Shelby speaks.

The terrible accents are utterly hilarious, and you can try to sorta let that go for a while, but eventually some really egregious and obvious plot holes pop up out of nowhere, and a few of the games' characterizations are so outrageous and weird that you can't help but laugh at them. (For example, why is that detective guy so damn angry the whole time?) Heavy Rain is basically the type of dumb melodrama you'd expect to find in a JRPG, except it comes from the mind of a really arrogant French guy named David Cage. Huh.

Some Fanboy Begs David O. Russell to Put Nathan Fillion in Uncharted Movie

Posted: 20 Dec 2010 06:23 PM PST

I like Nathan Fillion. He’s cool. I’m a big fan of Slither. But, fanboys, you need to shut the f–k up about having David O. Russell cast him as Nathan Drake in the Uncharted movie. Here’s a secret: most people don’t know who he is, and so it’s sorta silly to expect a major studio to make him the star of a big-budget action movie. I’m not going to say Mark Wahlberg is a better choice, but, goddamn, can you nerds think outside of your nerd box for like five minutes every once in a while? I think you probably can’t, but I can hope.

The reason I bring this up is because some tool decided to, after a screening of Russell’s amazing The Fighter in LA, beg the director to put Nathan Fillion in the Uncharted movie as Nathan Drake. Enjoy the awkwardness.

This guy has played “every” Uncharted game and is basically illiterate. Yeah, he should be in charge of blockbuster action movie casting.

via Badass Digest

Former Rockstar Employee Blogs About His Terrible Experience

Posted: 20 Dec 2010 02:46 PM PST

“The following is most likely a complete fabrication — unless it's all true.”

So says blogger Zero Dean in a epic talking-sh*t post about his experience working for Rockstar. Those of you expecting a gossip-filled tirade about hookers and cocaine may go away disappointed, but for anyone who’s had the misfortune to work in a bulky, corrupt corporate environment of any size, it’ll be music to you eyes (even if it kind of pulls the Rockstar Wizard out from behind the curtain.)

Zero was hired as an environments developer for future game of the year Red Dead Redemption. WIN, yes. The chance to work on what would ultimately become one the most acclaimed and successful games of 2010, for one of the most successful gaming companies ever, sounded like a great opportunity. And it was, until he actually began to work, and discovered a mess of cronyism, non communication, inefficiency, petty backstabbing and ego-instead-of-policy insanity. His story begins with typical corporate HR incompetence and quickly devolves into office horror, and if it can be believed, Rockstar San Diego is a corrupt mess, and the perfect recipe for middle management douchebags with pretensions to Feudal glory to really lord it over the plebes.

Things became particularly terrible for Zero when he was placed in charge of a team and discovered rather quickly that his authority was negligible at best:

My status as a team lead lasted for about 6 weeks — I think — until I sent what I thought was a private email to 3 people on my team. I talked about how "I knew everyone was working hard, but that it was probably unwise to be watching Youtube videos or browsing websites unrelated to work while at work — especially when we were under such intense scrutiny. I mentioned how I knew the schedule we'd been given was unrealistic, but…"

Well, a few minutes later I was called into a meeting and was subjected to a complete fit of swearing & screaming at for about 10-15 minutes by a "I'm obviously in charge here" higher up (who was — let's just say "not very popular" amongst some — or maybe most — employees I ever came in contact with).

About what? About that email, of course! — I mean, who would've guessed — all email was monitored. Clearly, there was a lot of trust here.

…

So by trying to motivate my team to focus on their responsibilities and not watch funny Youtube videos or do things unrelated to work and by admitting something everyone in the studio already knew — I'd "questioned authority" and it was obviously an offensive gesture that made my superiors look bad.

And for that I was nearly fired on the spot for "appearing as if I questioned anyone senior to my position".

He stuck through for a few more months but the last straw came when his boss brazenly claimed credit for his work and all but dared him to accuse him of lying about it.

So I rolled with the punches for as long as I could — but it became really difficult to ignore how ridiculous things were getting — not just for me, but for everyone. And I came to realize that I'd somehow been sucked into thinking that it was all somehow "ok".

That is was "ok" for me to be working 12 hours a day, 6 days a week without compensation. That is was "ok" to be lied to and manipulated in the workplace. That it was "ok" to be spoken to by management as if you were child. That it was "ok" if management screamed at and abused people while their peers looked on (I wasn't the only one). And that is was "ok" I was letting "real-life" pass me by as a result of all this.

It wasn't "ok" — It was actually far from "ok".

But it wasn't until my boss took credit for my work — and politely argued with me about who had actually created it (I had the original documents on my desktop) — that I went back to my desk and started "cleaning" it — and then I realized I wasn't cleaning it. I was packing.

I was pretty upset with him over that for a while — but I realize now he deserves my thanks — he pushed me out of hell.

I’ve worked in an environment like that. I’ve witnessed what I thought was every kind of petty, soul crushing nastiness perpetrated by pathetic people for whom their workplace is a chance to act like the queen bee they always wanted to be in High School. Which is why this account rings true. Even so, I’ve never experienced anything remotely close to what Zero Dean experienced working on RDR.

When we’re playing these games we love so much, we probably don’t really think about the fact that they weren’t simply conjured into existence by imagineers, Real people spent years on it, in many cases under working conditions nearly as terrible as the ones Zero relates in his account. We have a tendency to think that if it’s not coal-mines/galley rower terrible, it’s fine, and it’s definitely true that getting to do what you’re good at for a living is way, way, way easier than otherwise. But grueling work of any sort kills people slowly, particularly when accompanied by enforcement techniques bordering on Orwellian.

Red Dead Revolver is a work to be proud of, and Rockstar consistently puts out excellent games. But rumors of their tremendously awful treatment of their employees have plagued the company for years. Whether Zero Dean’s account helps escalate that criticism remains to be seen, but here’s hoping at the very least, more oversight of the conditions techies work under results.

There’s more, including comments from other former employees and excerpts from a local news article about the way Rockstar SD treats their employees. It’s riveting but also delicious, and it’s worth a full read.

In the meantime, we’re not going to stop playing RDR, though we might feel a tad bad about it. Just a tad though.

(Via Eurogamer).

NASCAR The Game 2011 Developer Diary

Posted: 20 Dec 2010 02:24 PM PST

This developer diary delving into the challenges Eutechnyx faced when trying to bring pack racing with a full field of 43 cars into console gaming and how they've managed to give players the look and feel of a true NASCAR race from start to finish. You can download this video here or watch it below.

A World of Keflings Musical Cannons Trailer

Posted: 20 Dec 2010 02:16 PM PST

Ninja Bee Games has released a new trailer for A World of Keflings. This trailer highlights gameplay of one of the game’s more advanced feautres – musical cannons. You can download this video here or watch it below.

The Steam Holiday Sale Just Started Like 5 Minutes Ago

Posted: 20 Dec 2010 11:48 AM PST

.

This just in from the interwebs, Steam has just announced the start of their holiday sale. From approximately now until January 2, they’re offering some particularly staggering discounts (in some cases as high as 80%). The thing is, you can only get it if you already own a steam game. Looks like you just got the perfect excuse to buy a copy of Half-Life, right?

But heck, why paraphrase a press release when we can share it with you. Here’s what it said:

In addition to the usual savings specials, each day of the sale will feature
a special Holiday Bonus on one select title. The twist: Players must qualify
for the Holiday Bonus by owning another Steam game.

For example, the first Holiday Bonus is Portal – save an extra 10% if you
own Half-Life 2. If you already own the title, Steam will automatically
detect this and offer you the 10% savings during check out.

Meanwhile, titles kicking off the traditional savings include:

F1 2010 50%

Battlefield Bad Company 2 66%

Fallout 3 (Game of the Year) 33%

The Deus Ex Collection 85%

LEGO Batman 75%

Peggle & Peggle Nights 60%

Prince of Persia (Franchise) 75%

Portal 75%

F.E.A.R. (Franchise) 75%

Titan Quest Gold 75%

Super Meat Boy 75%

Oddworld’s Oddboxx 50%

There’s a lot more on sale over on Steam. Better hurry before you spend that money on gifts for someone else!

Hunted: The Demon’s Forge – “The World of Hunted” Trailer

Posted: 20 Dec 2010 11:01 AM PST

Bethesda Softworks has released a new trailer for Hunted: The Demon’s Forge. This trailer features almost a minute and a half of footage showcasing the world of Hunted. Hunted: The Demon's Forge is a fresh take on the classic fantasy game that delivers the intensity and action of a modern-day cooperative shooter. With environments that span from enchanted forests to sprawling cities and deep into long forgotten dungeons, players will join together to face the great evil that threatens the land. You can download this video here or watch it below. (You can also grab this video in MP4 format as well)

LEGO Universe UGC B-roll Trailer

Posted: 20 Dec 2010 09:20 AM PST

A new trailer for LEGO Universe has been released. It contains almost three and a half minutes of B-roll footage. You can download this video here or watch it below.

DRAGON QUEST VI: Realms of Revelation Trailer

Posted: 20 Dec 2010 09:15 AM PST

A new trailer for DRAGON QUEST VI: Realms of Revelation has been released. This trailer features just over a minute of gameplay footage. This game will be released on the Nintendo DS. You can download this video here or watch it below.

First Call of Duty: Black Ops Map Pack Announced

Posted: 20 Dec 2010 09:11 AM PST

Call of Duty: Black Ops has sold a few copies since being launched. Now, all those fans are getting the first map pack from Treyarch.

Titled “First Strike,” the pack will include four multiplayer maps and one zombie map. It will release on Feb. 1, 2011 on XBox 360, and will sell for $15 (1200 MS Points). Here’s some info on the maps:

  • Discovery – Antarctic German research station, abandoned from World War II.
  • Stadium – Hockey rink in northeastern United States.
  • Berlin Wall – Takes place at Checkpoint Charlie. Is a battle between East and West Berlin.
  • Kowloon – Inspired from the single-player campaign based off of Kowloon city in China. It’s a rooftop map.
  • Ascension – Zombie map

There’s been no announcement of a date for PS3 and PC release of the map pack yet.

This announcement shows that Activision is perfectly happy with the $15 price point that Call of Duty fans paid for map packs for previous titles. Personally, I think it’s atrocious that gamers are spending the $15 they could use to buy the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam expansion for a few recycled map locations, especially given the mediocre nature of the multiplayer in Black Ops.


Ubisoft Lists Splinter Cell HD Collection

Posted: 20 Dec 2010 08:43 AM PST

In what was a long-awaited move, Ubisoft has confirmed that they will be releasing a Splinter Cell HD collection on PS3 next year.

We don’t really have any details yet, although it is interesting to note that there has been no announcement of an XBox 360 version of the collection. That’s a bit odd for a series that was predominately based on Microsoft’s consoles in the past.

We’ll have to wait and see which games are included in the pack, but my money’s on the original Splinter Cell, Pandora Tomorrow, and Chaos Theory. If we’re lucky, we’ll get Double Agent as well. Once we figure out more details, we’ll make sure to let you know.

A Space Shooter For 2 Bucks Trailer

Posted: 20 Dec 2010 08:42 AM PST

Due to the epic lack of news, check this video out! Traveling through space. Mowing down hordes of evil aliens. Upgrading your ship into the most lethal killing force the universe has ever seen. What could be better? How about getting to do all of the above for a measly two bucks! Download here or watch below.
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