Feature: My Life and Games...Part 4

Its the penultimate part of this feature, and in this one, I look at the new generation of consoles.

Read Previous parts here:

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

It was time I thought, that I actually got a console at launch, rather than waiting till it was a few years older. I wanted to be an 'early adopter'. Obviously this generation I had three choices, Xbox 360, Wii and the PS3. I contemplated the 360 for quite some time and for some quite valid reasons. The online system was much better than Sony's proposed PSN, more quality games due to its early release and was not as expensive as the PS3. Quite a lot of people I knew had it, so there would be plenty of multi-player options.

But, even though the 360 seemed the sensible options, I've never been sensible, and I wanted a launch console, so it was either the behemoth, wallet munching PS3 or the oddly named, waggle fun machine the Wii. At the time, no one knew how popular the Wii was going to be, no one could predict how many people would buy it, how many old folks homes would be organising Wii bowling leagues etc.

My main reason for choosing to get a PS3 was because I could play the only game I wanted to for Wii LoZ: The Twilight Princess, on Gamecube as well, with some critics preferring the GC version, so I didn't really want to purchase the console on the grounds of one game. The PS3 meanwhile, had a lot more features built into it which I would use, and had backwards compatibility so I could play all the PS2 games which I owned (well most, it was slightly hobbled due to the software emulation). Another reason, a geeky one I agree, was that I wanted to use it as a personal computer as well, so I needed to upgrade the harddrive and install Linux on it (something I have done).

I got Resistance: Fall Of Man and Motorstorm at launch, though I originally wanted Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, but many Ubisoft games were mysteriously delayed for a month. I was also playing on a SD TV, which stunted the impact of the upgraded graphics, although I was still impressed withe overall scale of things in both games. I got nailed by a lot of 360 owners at school, and whereas I could see where they were coming from, I simply didn't care. Maybe they had forgot that the quality of 360 launch titles was massively below standard.

Don't get me wrong, me and countless others have all gone 'Oh no, not again' at some of the things Sony has done said, especially with the Sixaxis and their backtrack over having rumble in controllers. Promised games such as Lair turned out to be awful, with poor controls and a patch did nothing to aid its life and the way Sony tried to 'help' reviewers review the game didn't got down too well.

I've always tried to stay away from console related discussions regarding which one is best, as looking back, they have all at the moments at different times. I believe (with the exception of the Wii) that it matters even less this generation. Most companies release games on more than one platform anyway, simply due to it being expensive no matter what console you develop for. That said, I'm really looking forward to Final Fantasy XIII

Would I like to play on all three consoles, certainly I would, but money ain't a unlimited resource, and neither is time. I was speaking to some adult Wii owners, who were actually into games, and they were telling me about it and said that its fun, but wouldn't recommend getting one till it was sub £100 at least. And even then, I doubt I would have a extensive game collection on it. I would find myself buying games I already owned from the virtual console. Wii Ware looks promising, but not too convincing for a perspective buyer.

What for the future then. I expect that they will simply keep building and building more things on top of the machines, from firmware to peripherals. The Wii will probably be the first to get an upgrade, new version or a new console, but somehow I don't see Nintendo backtracking from the casual market. Maybe the PS3 will be made smaller, and possibly another model of the 360 will be introduced. But with price drop galore predicted at E3, its going to get very interesting.

Tomorrow, in the final instalment, I look at my PC gaming and the handhelds...

Quantum of Solace-First look

We're suckers for James Bond games, and with the sheer bulk of them in the last generation, they have kind of gone from OK, to awful to acceptable and back to bad again. Nothing has created quite the effect that the fabled Goldeneye on the N64 did.

Well, after changing hands a fair few times, the next game based on the film, Quantum of Solace looks the business. Using the COD4 engine, everything looks superb at the moment, with destructible environments and generally great effects that were first seen in COD4. Anyway, enough talking, take a look at this video from Gametrailers and see what you think, I'm actually looking forward to this Bond game.

The Next Level Update - 07/07/08

After a crazy weekend, here's the TNL update.

Noal Gallagher blames game for knife crime

Speaking to BBC newsbeat, oasis frontman Noal has claimed that rising knife crime  amongst young people can be blamed on yes, you guessed it, videogames. Nevermind the fact that many other forms of media promote violence, Gallagher says that violent video games desensitises young people to violence. He does not mention any particular game but says it is 'very, very scary'. I can't blame him for making his anti knife crime views known, what with a spate of horrible stabbing's recently, but I believe there are other things to link it too rather than video games, society in general would be one. This mainly comes from when he was in Liverpool recently and saw news stories about it every night. he goes on to say

"People say it's through violent video games and I guess that's got something to do with it, if kids are sitting up all night smoking super skunk and they become so desensitised to crime because they're playing these video games...".

PSP holds strong in Japan

Following a bit of a mad week for Sony, good news for the PSP over in the land of the  rising sun. Facing increased competition from the Nintendo consoles, the PSP has managed to hold on to the top spot, down just 500 units on the previous weeks. This may show an increase in popularity for the PSP as a platform, with quality releases such as Final Fantasy VII crisis core and Japan favourite monster hunter boosting sales. Following the massive boost of sales of the PS3 following the release of MGS4, sales of the platform have decreased again, but Sony will still probably be quite happy, as even they have admitted that the PSP is 'doing better than we hoped'

PSP - 58,861
Nintendo DS - 48,884
Wii - 48,480
PlayStation 3 - 17,973
PlayStation 2 - 7,673
Xbox 360 - 5,104

Sales data compiled by Media Create.

J Allard CXO

Poor J Allard, after been shifted from one project to another, one being the Zune (poor guy) he has now been given the fantastically made up role of...Chief Experience Officer (CXO). What that means is that

"As Chief Experience Officer (CXO) and Chief Technology Officer (CTO), J Allard is  responsible for the technical architecture and user experiences related to products and services of the Entertainment and Devices (E&D) division. Allard works closely with technical leaders across the company to align E&D product teams with Microsoft's overall services strategy and product architecture, and drives the technical and design agenda to deliver Connected Entertainment experiences for consumers. With a unified approach and his personal passion for the possibilities of digital entertainment, Allard manages the E&D design group and also oversees an incubation team that scouts new opportunities for the division."

That was a lot, don't know whether that means he's going to be back into the Xbox biz, where he did a eccentrically good job, and developed a rather strange cult following. We need more bald dudes on stage now Phil has left Sony.

No More Brain Training!

Nintendo have announced they have no plans to make more Brain Training games , down to the fact the first two still make loads of money. Speaking to trade magazine MCV, Nintendo marketing director Dawn Paine said

"The idea behind More Brain Training is that people can move across to it once they have played the first one, and vice versa, and are looking for new challenges and training exercises,"

Basically, that because the Brain Training games are still doing so well in the charts, it seems silly to do any R&D into making any more. Mind you, with Dr. Kawishima (sp!) himself being ripped off by it all (apparently) I'm sure he's not keen for any more to appear.

GTA crime spree

Quite a widely reported story, as the Internet loves flaming on idiots, and who can  blame them when they are this idiotic. Siding with Jack Thompson and co, six clever teenagers have gone on a late night crime spree in Nassau county, New York. there first attempt at game emulation had them mugging someone, robbed a motorist and smashed a van with a bat, wow they even kept with GTA weapons.

"It was determined that they were emulating the character in that Grand Theft Auto game, going on a crime spree,"

Nassau's Det. Sgt. Anthony Repalone told press, following them admitting that they were trying to portray those out of GTA. What a clever way to spend your time, go back and play the actual game, rather than attempting to imitate it.

The Next Level Update! 30/06/08

Once the Internet connection finally returned to my house (after making sure we'd defiantly paid the bill), I got a chance to look at some of the news that people are talking about.

 

Diablo Returns!

Blizzard have shown a Diablo III teaser trailer at their Paris conference over the weekend, and its got Diablo fans HYPED! The game appears to be using a 3D engine, but locked down at a isometric perspective, in keeping with tradition, as your can see in the video below. Taken from CVG here is a list of what we know.

UPDATE: Here's a list of what we know so far:

• Set twenty years after the events of Lord of Destruction and will be a similar length to Diablo II
• 3D game engine, but locked in isometric viewpoint
• Will be available for both PC and Mac. No console.
• Two classes confirmed - the Barbarian and new class the Witch Doctor, who can control minds and use pets. There is currently five.
• Up to eight players co-operatively at present. Co-op played via battle.net
• Diablo III will concentrate more on quests, story & events that previously.
• WoW-like hotbar implemented. Is possible to play just using mouse.

Looks pretty good so far!

Spore creatures hit 1 million

In just a week since its release, the Spore Creature creator has seen users create over 1 million creatures. How many of those are creatures with questionable design choices remains un-answered, but millionth creatures was just an average bug thing. A statement from Maxis' executive producer Lucy Bradshaw said,

"Maxis is excited, humbled and inspired by the explosion of creativity that we've seen with the Spore Creature Creator online," "I'm amazed at the creations I see getting uploaded to the Sporepedia, whether it's a realistic looking bird or animal, a 10-eyed alien, or something completely bizarre and unexpected like a creature that looks like a motorcycle." 

No mention of a certain type of creature then.... Spore is due for release on September 5th in the UK.

Someone's busy...

Apparently, EA have stated that currently 5 Battlefield games are in development. Battlefield Heroes' (the mostly free online shooter) executive producer Ben Cousins has spoke at the Paris GDC about their being various games in development, however most are being kept underwraps.

"We've got five [Battlefield] titles in development, which is more than you'd expect."
"We're actually developing a battlefield game with Neowiz for the Korean market and separate from Heroes,"

So that leaves 3, which many people are guessing means different battlefield games for each of the key home platforms, which means that they must either be substantially different, or are simply putting a spin on things. In other Battlefield news, Bad Company was released, and not long after people wanted to take the mainly online shooter online, they began complaining about dodgy servers for the Xbox 360 version of the game, including connecting to game and stat tracking.

Their fool proof method which is not really fix, more something to give them more time to fix it, is to turn your 360 off for 20 min's, then back on again. Almost as sound advice as Rockstar's guide to getting GTA IV to work on the PS3....

In other news...

Xbox 360

Microsoft are considering family friendly Halo games following some rather odd questions in a recent market survey. Box art has been released for Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts (erm, woo) and the 360 DRM tool for those with new consoles has been released, letting you play all that content you bought a while ago! Other than that and general game news, still a bit quiet on the 360 front.

PS3 and PSP

However, Sony are really beginning to show off their in-game XMB, which is due for  release some time in July, with a new video on the PS blog showing off the features, why on earth it took so long I don't know. Kaz 'Riiidddgge Racer' Hirai (sorry, I'm never going to be able to let that drop) has announced that as well as a Wii style weather and news channel things being released, there will also be a video store, which will be eventually cross-compatible with the PSP. There is also news of a few more games being ported for development, yet hiding behind all this, they released a statement saying that although it has begun to decrease, losses are still $1.15 Billion on the Playstation section....ouch...And God Of War 3 is apparently ready to show off at E3, which many speculate is the game that the BBC blogger caused such a stir about by claiming it was the best looking game he'd ever seen at a Sony event, amongst a few other people.

Wii and DS

Summer line up was revealed and its quite a long list, though I'm struggling to pick out many massive games in the line up, apart from of course...Kung Fu Panda and Pimp my ride....erm. Anyway, head over here to see the list, as its quite long! 2K are going to be using Havok physics for the Wii and Castlevania Wii is a 3D beat 'em up...randomly.

The Next Level Update- 23/06/08

Yeah, it's that time again, to find all those random news stories that should be in this blog, and put em in it.

PES 09 comes out of nowhere

Quite a few of us were thinking that PES had gone into hiding after quite a poor showing last year, 08 was far better than the next-Gen versions of PES 6, but various issues plagued not only the PS3 version, but 360 as well. The developers reportedly put this down to their current engine they were working on did not agree with next-Gen hardware.

But PES has recently arrived again, with its 09 edition apparently having massively improved graphics, new moves, better control elements and key online features, mind you, having a online feature that worked and did not require about 15 different ID's as most Konami games do would be a start.

Knifes linked to games

The well known quiet and rational Boris Johnson (.....) now the Mayor of London, has  managed to link games with yet another form of violence. Nevermind the fact that society in the UK has gone down the pan, he claims that as well as 'drug addled celebrities', violent videogames are also to blame for the rise in the knife culture.

Of course, this is not he first time Mr. Johnson has come out against video games, he wrote a piece in The Telegraph last year claiming it was "time to garrote the Game Boy and paralyze the PlayStation". Perhaps so, but perhaps focusing on the more underline causes of violent crime by youths, as in maybe the fact they know they nearly always get away with it. Actually no, scrap that, lets go play Manhunt.

Spore porn is banned

I'm not surprised, but not long after the Spore Creature Creator was released in order  to help populate the Spore world before the game's release later this year, various creatures with questionable shapes started appearing. Partly fuelled by PC Gamers attempt at creating one, people went mad creating creatures in the shape of everything from swear words to appendages. EA have now taken action, sending emails to users who have abused the T&C's, saying their account has been flagged and could possibly be banned. So it doesn't look like a nation of porn stars will be taking over the galaxy...sorry guys..

Stuff Section

PS3 and PSP Stuff

Quite a lot for the PS3 this week, with firmware 2.4 being confirmed for definite meaning in-game XMB and trophies on their way, and 2.36 making everything a bit more stable...Also, PS3 is storming sales in Japan, mainly down to release of MGS4, SCEE president David Reeves has said that the PS3 will eventually outstrip the PS2 lifetime sales and for Sony, restoring game and TV profits is a priority. Shame, not too much game news.

360 News

Apparently, Command and Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath appears to be coming along well, the world debut of Cod5: World Of War was released on XBLM and MS want to be the first with Xbox 3, 720 or whatever they are going to call it. Their E3 line up has also been leaked, with 'Lips' a Singstar esque karaoke game amongst the games going to be on show.

Wii and DS Stuff

Quite a few new titles for DS have been shown, such as Ninja Gaiden DS, Bleach: Dark Souls and a few others. A Mum has developed a screen protector to save TV's from flying Wiimotes after seeing hers being destroyed and more Mums have gone crazy in Asda for a cooking game for the DS, which contains over 250 menu ideas and step by step recipes. They have sold around 10,000 copies in the first hour and apparently its still selling really well. The future for DS?

A new contender in the handheld battle?

The handheld market has always been ruled by Nintendo. The Game Boy is probably more famous than any other console before or after it and for many it was there first step into the world of video games. In fact I have owned every version of the game boy since it was first launched (with the exception of the latest: the 'Micro'). However, I was never really that attracted to the DS. All that I saw in it was a gimmicky control system that disguised the sub-standard console behind. Instead I settled for a PSP as it had the more power, the bigger screen and much more multimedia capabilities. However, the masses disagreed with me and went for the DS and needless to say Nintendo stayed at the top of the podium.

Nintendo then saw how attractive these "innovative" controls were and decided to take a similar approach with the Wii. Incredibly after being behind in the last two generations of the home console market, Nintendo were pushed straight to the front as everyone went Wii crazy.

However Nintendo now have something else to worry about and this time it comes from Apple.

A few years ago, the worldwide leader in the portable music player category was the Sony Walkman. It was one of those brands that with infamous. However, Apple released a little thing called the iPod and it became so successful that practically everyone now owns one. There iTunes store stole millions of record sales away from the 'real' music stores like HMV and lead to the music charts being forced to include online sales. Then last year they released the iPhone, once more they overtook practically every other mobile phone and smartphone manufacturer.

At this point you might be expecting me to unveil the Apple iGame or something that will put Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo out of business, but in fact this new DS contender is already out on the market. With its version 2.0 upgrade, the iPhone now supports 3rd party applications and this means that it can now play games.

'So what?', you say 'Most phones can play games, but the DS is still the market leader.' The iPhone however has a couple of tricks up it's sleeve. Firstly it has a multi-touch screen which, as the name suggests, means it can detect multiple points of contact as opposed to the DS only picking up one point of contact. Secondly the iPhone has a built in 3-axis accelerometer which, in lament's terms, means it can match the Wiimote and Sixaxis in their motion controls.

So the iPhone is a combination of the DS and Wii in terms of its controls, but what about everything else?

Well the new version, 'iPhone 3G', is a 3G Phone, a Camera, an iPod, a Sat Nav unit and a Calculator. It can surf the web, it can send emails, it can do instant and SMS messaging, it supports YouTube and is compatible with 3rd party software. It supports Music, Photos and Video and has a large high-quality screen. Just in this one device it can both match and then beat the PSP and DS, but the final and killer question is: what are the games actually like?

Well at the moment it remains to be seen, but from the footage I have seen of Sega's 'Super Monkey Ball' running on it, it is looking positive. (View the Keynote here and skip to around 22:00 minutes)

Apple have announced that the iPhone 3G will be sold globally at a maximum price of $199 or around £100. I know that at that price and with all those features that I definitely want one and I guess that you probably do as well, the only problem will be trying to get your hands on one.

A gamers trip to the supermarket

Went to [insert brand name here] today, mainly to get supplies for the 24 hour deathathon on Tuesday, but I also, being a gamer, a took a look at some of the games they had on show. Oh they were classics. It makes me laugh as someone who knows a little bit about games (not that I'm special or anything, most people would be interested) when good games, but old ones, are priced at similar prices, or lower, as those made on a shoestring budget with all the programming prowess of a kitten.

For example, on one particular PC game section, both Rome: Total War, Medieval: Total  War (not the newer one) and STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl were priced at around £5-6, which is pretty good deals if you don't own them, especially the total war games, but below that, 'AIR FORCE [[LOCK ON]]' (yes, was wrote like that) with cover art which would deemed below standard by a  nursery assistant, was priced at £8. This may not seem much, but I remember seeing it a while ago, priced even higher.

A problem that that I and many others seem to suffer from is a deep feeling of sadness when games we know are excellent titles, Final Fantasy XII and Okami and hidden behind 'Hard Rock Casino' and 'Super Kart F1', with a price point which matches them. Why, why, why. But, although we are talking supermarkets here, and I expect to see budget crap around every turn, but this is also becoming the case in mainstream game shops.

Can this be blamed on the Wii's casual influence. Partly I suppose, as games are generally being sold to more and more people, and this includes junk like Wii Party. I was going to buy some and see what they were actually like, but would prefer to wait till, I don't know, a good game comes out perhaps.

The Next Level Update- 16/06/08

How many of us missed Fathers day....I almost did...whoops, but with MGS4 coming out, who needs Father's when we have Snake..Snake?...SNAAAAAAKKEEEE!

COD5 unveiled, the World is at War...again...

COD4 was a awesome game, no question about it, released at the back end of a very strong year, it boasted mulitplayer more popular than Halo 3 and a intense, but short single player campaign. But, people were left dismayed with the reports that Treyarch, who to be fair are good developers, were going to handle COD5 and take it back to WWII.

Me, being as open minded as possible (WTF Fools, teh cod4 iz rad!!!!11111) decided that I was just going to see what they come up with. CoD 5: World At War is taking us to a new theatre of war (one that was already seen in MoH: Pacific Assault or whatever it was) focused around the pacific theatre and the Russians moving into Germany. Treyarch apparently have decided to mess with the AI of the enemy Japanese infantry, by making them much more terrifying to fight against. Treyarch have almost come out and said it is a survival horror shooter, which sounds a bit Wolfenstein-ish to me.

But, the senior producer for the game, Noah Heller has said that the game has to redefine and stun the shooter genre, otherwise people will lose interest in the game and it could possibly harm the franchise . It's promising a similar but more balanced mulitplayer modes, but I'm unsure how this could possibly move the series forward in the leap which Cod4 did.

Sam's going all quiet

With Ubisoft's 360 exclusive Splinter Cell: Conviction been in production for such a long time, for a while it had completely vanished from my mind, which is not hard to do I accept. But Sarcastic Gamer have recently reported that they have heard from various people at Ubisoft that cult actor Michael Ironside, Mr. Gruff who voiced Fisher in all the previous games has quietly been given the boot. Many comments on websites reporting on this have been mostly negative, many comparing it to David Hayter not doing Solid Snake....unthinkable, but no official word from Ubisoft yet, maybe Sam is now so stealthy, he has no tongue, rendering his ability to interrogate eastern European militia in perfect English useless.

Jaffe unleashes anger at Nintendo

No, jafa cakes have not had a uprising against Nintendo for failing to make a game about them (Cake or biscuit?) but David Jaffe, outspoken God Of War creator has wrote on his personal blog some strong words against Nintendo and their marketing person Laurent Fischer. Fischer claimed in an interview with Edge that it was only 'geeks and otaku' that wanted more storage space in Wii, outraging many Nintendo fans and non-fans. In the rant, which refers to Fischer as a she (I thought she was a guy, but that's beside the point), Jaffe wrote:

"Ok, so if this is true [the geek statement from Edge 190], it's really, really sad.
And not so much because Nintendo seems to be telling a chunk of its loyal fanbase to go f**k itself, but because it's just reeks of junior high school vibe immaturity bullshit."

I like Nintendo. And I LOVE old Nintendo. And both old and new Nintendo have brought SO MUCH to this industry that they SHOULD be proud and excited and even a little cocky when it comes to their amazing accomplishments... But this statement, especially coming from a marketing person, reeks of one of two things:
a- arrogance at a level that should make Nintendo- if this statement reflects the core of the company- very ashamed.

b- a marketing person who has no real clue about games and thinks she's being cute and coy by dissing the 'geeks' cause she thinks the mainstream loves them now....if this is the case, she really needs someone to sit her down and explain to her which side her f***ing toast has been buttered on for years and will eventually get back to being buttered on...."

Not the words of a happy man I believe. My opinion on this is quite simple and has been like this from day one of the Wii launch. When asked by non-gaming friends and relatives about it, I always said it was a brilliant machine, and Nintendo are very clever, but for longevity, it's not for me, there just ain't enough quality games on it. But, this is someone who updated their PS3 HDD to the maximum capacity, so fit quite snugly into Nintendo's 'Geek' category. but honestly, what do marketing people know!

Wow that was a long section...Other Stuff

MGS4 is out!

As you may of guessed Metal Gear Solid 4 is out, I'm almost to the end of it, minus a few mammoth cutscenes, and so far, it's been everything I expected and so much more. And it's not just me who thinks that. Browsing round a few websites, the game has been very well received, especially by fans of the series, who praise Hideo Kojima for wrapping the story up in the best way possible. Though it appears that many supposedly 'joke' forum threads, such as looking at the MGS3 characters and how they fit into the later game, has come true, clever work Kojima.

EA sued

Electronic Arts has been hit with a lawsuit against it for blatant anticompetitive conduct' in the American football genre especially. This is mainly down to the fact that EA has bought every license under the sun, meaning that if you want to play a licensed game, you need a EA one. We'll keep an eye on how this develops.

 

That's enough for this one, be sure to be around Tuesday and Wednesday for the GT4 endurance race feature blogs, and a podcast.

The Next Level Update 09/06/08

We're here again, slightly late, for the Next Level Update.

GTA IV DLC delayed...No its not....Yes it is

News coming out of Take 2 is that the DLC has been delayed till Q1 2009, which is quite a way off yet. The details, surprisingly, have not been revealed, and also no details of which platform the DLC has been delayed for.

But, Microsoft have released a statement saying that the DLC is still on track for Autumn 2008, claiming it doesn't mean it will be released in 2009.

'The GTA IV episodic content for the Xbox 360 is still on track for release in 2008'

Well that wasn't confusing was it. So, going on that, it looks like any DLC planned for PS3 will have been pushed back, although Take 2 did come out and say it was not down to development issues.

Xbox Live Marketplace is overcrowded

Poor Microsoft, in their attempt to provide tons of content for people to download, they have managed to cram it so full with stuff. that it is impossible to find something on it. Around 17,000 items (no, I didn't count them) are on the marketplace, and its not that the servers are too full, its that the interface simply is not
designed around that much content.

Aaron Greenberg has come out saying he is unhappy with the sheer amount of stuff and the navigation difficulty, and as well as their decision to be taking poorly performing items off XBLM. With no spring update coming out, looks like development is being focused on XBLM.

Tomonobu Itagaki leave Tecmo

Ninja Gaiden creator, Tomonobu Itagaki has left Ninja Gaiden developer, Tecmo, claiming un-paid completion bonuses and is leaving his post on July 1. He filed a complaint to the Tokyo District Court that he was not paid the correct amount and sending a complaint against the president of Tecmo. He has also claimed $1.4 million in damages. Someone clearly is not very happy.

Now Tecmo have replied by claiming that this is all distortions and denied what they have been accused of. Seems not to of done enough though, as Tecmo's shares have fallen sharply following the fact possibly their most valuble employee is leaving, and even after releasing an apology to everyone related to the company, it's not gone down all too well.

Other Stuff

PS3 news

Couple of things on the PS3 front, both the Getaway (oh boo hoo) and 8 days (actually damn) have been canned, whilst it has been revealed that the Bioshock version will have quite a few updates, tweaks when it is re-developed by a mystery developer. Also, in the US, they have a online subscription based show which you download from the PSN called Qore, and possibly will be released in Europe.

Capcom Games

There was a Capcom event, which they showed off Resident Evil 5 (a pumped up version of 4 by the looks of things), Dark Void, Bionic Commando and Street Fighter IV, amongst other things. Bionic Commando even promises online mulitplayer and Resi 5 may be having co-op, have the Japanese got multiplayer!?!


Ubisoft Event

Ubisoft also showed off a few games, like Far Cry 2, Prince of Persia and a teaser trailer of Beyond Good And Evil 2. For those who missed the first one, play it, as it was a good game that nobody played.

Wii stuff

The Wii now has a 100 Wii ware in developers, but apparently everyone who wants storage space for all these games are geeks according to the Managing Director of Nintendo of Europe, Laurent Fischer. Thats nice then.

Kick the ball with 500% more realism...

It's begun again, the annual FIFA announcement comes as FIFA 09 is coming with 250 key improvements following a first look from Gamemaster Magazine. The games due out in Autumn, the usual time for the FIFA and PES releases are. But this year, with it being very close last year, will FIFA overtake PES as the 'Footballers Football game'.

Many of the improvements for FIFA don't seem to just be the usual gimmick they bring in with each game, some work better than others. They seem to be generally improvements in making the game of footy better, for example an increased responsiveness, quicker, soother passing and various other animation improvements, to make the players appear less like bow legged puppets and more like actual humans.

So, can this overtake what many people presume to be the perfect footballing game series, Pro Evolution Soccer. Well personally after playing PES 2008 to death, I think it can beat it. I was one of the poor people who played PES 08 on PS3, and it was a hobbled mess of slow FPS. With this FIFA promising better animation and collision, that actually relates to the player, this could well knock PES of its shaky top spot.

I player UEFA Euro 2008 recently and was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. As I've always played PES, and thought FIFA was a complete waste of time, it seemed that UEFA was as good, if not better than PES. Now obviously, if they have rebuilt the engine and completely gave the interface a redesign, PES may be OK, but I reckon with the improvements, such as my favourite 'realistic tumbling' (where players fall over basically) FIFA could really give it a run for its money.

FIFA 09 will be coming this Autumn, on every possible platform in existence, possibly even the Atari 2600

The Next Level Update 01/06/08

Its the first of June, which typically means the weather is going to start acting more like summer and less like a mutant offspring of spring and autumn. But summer means a slowdown in gaming news....Does it?

Oh please, shut up

Konami have told everyone who has been harping on about the length of the cutscenes in the Metal Gear Solid 4, to basically, be quiet. Various early reviewers of the game have noted upon the length, not necessarily calling it a negative aspect of the game. It has been mentioned that Konami told reviewers not to release the length of the cutscenes (reputedly 90 minutes), though reviews hinted at it, with IGN claiming half the game was taken up by them, with the OPSM (Official Playstation Magazine) saying they were the length of the three Godfather movies rolled into one and that its around a third of the game. I'm still positive it's going to the best movie I've ever played.

"UHH...GAMES....GAAMMMESS"

Sound familiar? According to Slash, the fuzzy haired guitarist (I do know what bands he played for!) has come out saying that games turn kids into gaming zombies. He claims that people who play Guitar Hero don't pick up a real guitar and that real guitar playing and learning to play it is much more enjoyable, if not as instantly gratifying. However, Slash also says that its a great way to spread new 'killer' Rock 'n' Roll through Guitar Hero, which normally kids who listen to conventional radio etc. I'm sure he'll remember how much he prefers playing Guitar Hero when the next sponsor money check comes through.

"Wir nicht mochten nach Leipzig fahren"

Nintendo have announced (if you have not guessed from my terribly poor German) that they are not going to the Leipzig Games Convention 2008. They have said they want to concentrate on smaller shows over the country, rather than one main event. I believe that they want to reach as many people as possible, increasing their grasp on the casual gaming market. This seems to be following in the trend of the abandonment of the main big shows such as E3 and Leipzig and changing to smaller more concentrated events run by the publishers or developers. Meh, I can't afford go to any of them anyway!

Get back to your gaming caves

Us gamers have been called a variety of things this week, and now the the pinnacle of British hysteria, The Daily Mail, claims gaming turns male gamers into cavemen. They claim that when we pick up a games console, we turn into primordial numpty's...I'm thinking they mean console pad as picking up a PS3 or two is likely give even the most able bodied gamer a hernia. They say that research shows that gaming activates a part of the males brain used back in the day we were hunting mammoths etc. It showed that both males and females had some activation in this area when playing games but more so in the males, probably explaining the birth of the 'Man-child'.

Other bits of stuff

First Aid

Sony CEO Howard Stringer has admitted that during the mess up of the PS3's launch, it was not looking promising, and almost going to bring down the company, the PS3 was basically on 'Life Support'. But now, apparently, its all going fine, especially after HD-DVD losing the war. But, does that mean that people are just buying it as a cheap Blu-ray player, not a game console?

Afrika ain't in Europe

Sony's safari simulator is not going to be published in Europe. The game, which looked similar to the N64's 'Pokemon Snap' (well, I don't think it involved shooting the animals), looked more like a tech demo than anything else, but we'll see.

Secretive Xbox games due to be unveiled

News just in, apparently Microsoft are going to unveil 2 big new Xbox games at this years E3, probably during the pre-show conference. It's just as well, as judging by the recent activities over at E3 with developers deciding not to show up, these may be the major draw.

There's a ton more news floating around the internet, but go and find it if you want to know.

Is what you read what you get?

I recently read quite an interesting column over at Edge(or Next Gen). Games journalist N'Gai Croal wrote about how previewers of games often fill in the gaps of what they think will be in the final version. Many of them often have to try and be as positive as possible, even if the game has a very low standard and is basically unplayable, journalists are told by their managers to ensure they get a review or another preview copy, hence be positive. But is that really giving readers an insight into the game, or simply buying into the hype machine.

Look at Haze. Yeah, the shoddy unpolished graphics may hurt your eyes and crude AI may drive you insane, but none of this was mentioned in the preview versions. From that, it was going to be the perfect game, and having seen videos and articles about it, I believed it would be a good game. Nevermind then. So which would readers prefer, to be told a game ain't looking good before hand during a preview or to be told that the game is going to turn out fine.

For this blog, obviously as we ain't  journalist's or anything near it, I don't see preview copies, or review copies, or most of the time, any copies. My personal process of writing about games, if previewing them for example, is to attempt to gather as much information as possible from the largest variety of websites I can, read through it, look a videos etc and try and build up a image of what the game is like, hence why I refuse to attempt to 'review' a game. It's therefore difficult for me to actually contextualise and look objectively at games, but many blogs are now starting to be given preview builds of games, leading them to simply say what they see.

Honesty appears to be a an important aspect of the gaming community, one which is failing fast. So many games are now being hyped up to be better than they are, (Matt recently blogged about one such situation) then it has a knock on effect on the industry as a whole. It's becoming the trend for developers to have journalists to play through games in the developers HQ, so they can give feedback on the good and bad parts of it. This doesn't seem to be happening in the previews, which means some developers do not bother making changes to the game or upping the standard as the previewers seem to believe 'It's all fine'.

So should the process be changed. As mentioned earlier, yes. Previewers all do a good job, they allow fans of a series to gain the next bit of knowledge, allow readers to generally get a interest in the games, but overall being forced to bow down to the more corporate side of the industry. I listened to a podcast a while back, where some journalists were talking about how they were not being given games by a well known publisher simply for writing some less than complementary comments about their new release. With attitudes like that with some developers, it's understandable when previewers 'play nice'.

The Big Summer Drought

Nope, we ain't all of a sudden running out of water, but this is traditionally the period of the year where very few big games are released. Developers seem to be believe (something the tabloids seriously don't) that during summer, everyone runs outside and indulges in polite games of cricket etc etc.

This is a load of rubbish obviously, we're all obese, unhealthy slobs and would much prefer to spend our days becoming pale and potato shaped. Summers generally turn into a world of mediocre releases, seemingly made in the developers spare time, or ports of older games onto a different system. Many of these being rushed and lazily put together.

It seems that the only games which are released around this period are those which have been delayed from the congested Christmas period (just think about how crowded it would of been with both MGS4 and GTAIV being released then). I found that last year, there were not too many games, but too many for me too afford and play. I found I could not devote enough time to every game. I enjoyed Assassins Creed, until it dissolved into a guide of how to repeat the same action 14 times, Uncharted: Drakes Fortune was fun, but linear and a tad frustrating at times, COD 4 was well...COD4 basically and Ratchet and Clank: Tools Of Destruction, was a fun blast.

But that still left quite a few games for me to play, hence me having to rush buy about 4 games after Christmas. I would prefer games to be spread out a lot more over the year, as they ain't cheap, especially in the UK. It's slightly better this year, with MGS4 just round the corner and it doesn't seem quite so congested. At least we get to look forward to a summer of confrences including another version of E3, which will eventually end up just like the old one anyway!

Anyway, as a more personal message, my fellow blogger is vanishing on holiday this week, so I can't guarantee that content will be put online as regular as we would like, on that note, anybody who feels they fit the role we outlined in the first post, contact me as soon as possible for a chance to be part of The Next Level Team.

Why you shouldn't make promises you cant keep

It is undeniable that the Wii's graphics, compared to the 360 and PS3, are not the best. Sure, compared to last gen they might be good, but they do not hold up to graphical punch provided by the other two. Everyone accepts this fact, even Nintendo, because everyone knows that they Wii is all about the controls and having fun.

There are some people, though, who feel that the Wii can match the 360. I talk, of course, of High Voltage the developer behind 'Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude'

Speaking last year, High Voltage CEO Kerry Ganofsky said:

"Most of the games on the Wii look like crap. We want to change that, so we've invested heavily in our Wii tech over the past year. Of course [Wii owners] care about gameplay, but we believe if given the choice, they would want great graphics as well. It's just a cop out. With Conduit, we are trying to make a Wii game that looks like a 360 title."

Sorry, a Wii game that looks like a 360 title ? A Wii game who's graphics could match that of Gears Of War? Are you insane Kerry? The answer is yes.

Watch this tech demo: (or click here to view high quality version)

Quite honestly at no point did I think 'Wow, this looks like a 360 game'. What I actually though was 'Wow, this looks like a PS2game'. Sure there are some nice looking light and water effects and sure the guy says things about graphics that no-one understands but these graphics are unimpressive at most.

Normally I wouldn't even be that bothered, but if it wasn't for the developers big headed-ness then I wouldn't have to be quite so harsh on the graphics.

Did I mention that I think the graphics are a blurry, low-res, jaggy, ugly, brown mess. I should also point out that the fire is one of the worst fire effects I have seen in a long time.

However, after watching the actual game trailer, I will say this: It looks comparable to some parts of Half Life 2 (a 4 year old game, remember), except that it's lower res.

Sure this game looks better than the average Wii game, but personally I prefer the bright, colourful graphics in Super Mario Galaxy to the dull, brown graphics in The Conduit.

Finally just a word of advice to other developers out there: Don't make promises you cant keep, because when you fail to deliver we wont have any sympathy for you.

The Next Level Update 19/05/2008

A tad late, mainly because of all the other stuff that appeared over the weekend, but here again is a list of stuff that caught our eye(s)!

Gamespot Pwned

Well, not really, but their parent company Cnet have had all outstanding shares etc bought by CBS (an American broadcasting network) in a deal worth about $1.8 million dollars. This is for all parts of Cnet, including mp3.com and TV.com, as well as GS and Cnet's own site. Whether they are aware of the fact or not, Gamespot, although quite popular still, suffered greatly, as did peoples view of Cnet management, with the sacking of Jeff Gerstmann. We'll wait and see what this deal does to the websites, but personally I don't think as outside users, we'll see any major changes to the sites, perhaps some more editorial staff need hiring, as GS's content is not coming as quick as it used to.

PS3 is 'for Teens'

In a global youth survey done by the folks at Habbo (that virtual hotel/hangout/rip off thing), it was discovered that the PS3 is for teens. In a report in which 58,486 aged 11-18 across the planet were asked about their choice and views on game consoles, 69% chose the PS3 as 'great' or 'good, which was then followed by the Wii and Xbox 360 at 64% and 58%....quite a variation then....More surprisingly, the PS3 beat the Wii in every age category apart 11-12, where the Wii won, and that overall, (time for another massive surprise.....) the Wii was the most popular console for females, I'm not surprised when you see some of the testosterone fuelled games they release on the other consoles, who look like they were designed by coders who have a thing for 'big polygons'. The survey showed that although the 360 is far less popular in Europe and Asia, it's much better in the states (wow again...) with it being the console of choice in Mexico and Columbia, probably all playing GRAW 1+2 and going for a sightseeing tour round their country. And the good old fashioned gender split is lads like the PS3, girls like the Wii.

Squeezing it out...

The war between MS and Sony continues, this battle centering around Microsoft's unlikely ally, the Wii. Aaron Greenburg, Xbox group product manager has claimed that although the PS3 and Wii are enjoying current gen success, on par with the 360 if anything, that the PS3 is getting 'squeezed out' by the 360 and Wii. Greenburg has obviously been in fighting talk lately, what with him bashing Sony last week for their treatment of consumers and now has decided to like Nintendo, though I doubt it will last too long. He has said that:

"What you're seeing ... is two platforms are having tremendous success,"

"Xbox 360 has hit 10 million units, the Wii is now getting close to that milestone, whereas the PS3 seems to be a bit stalled, and what you're finding is that there are two platforms that are performing very well, going after two uniquely different types of consumers, while the PS3 really seems like it's getting squeezed out"

(Quotes from Next-gen)

Probably because of the NPD report of the 360 being the first to reach 10 million units, this fighting talk is set to continue. Hopefully it shouldn't turn into a full blown battle, if Sony can keep their mouths shut for a bit....wait a minute...never mind then.

Other Stuff

No 360mote

Shane Kim has refused to acknowledge the existence of 360 motion controller. As well as giving the good old 'We don't comment on speculation and rumour', he also said that he has never heard about it and that there are a lot of third parties attempting to copy the Wii. But he could be playing dumb, so we'll see.

Wii Tops 6 million in Japan

Its official, now 4% of all the Japanese population own a Wii, which compared to the PS2, which has sold 20million...but has been out eight years. Also around 2 million of them have gone and bought Wii fit, and people seem to buying Mario Kart Wii games for the hell of it.

And Finally- Uwe Boll...let me at it..

'Because my movies are bloody and violent, I think I would be the right guy to do it'...Uwe Boll's reason for letting him get his hands on the GTA franchise. He believes that they will end up making a PG-13 film for $150 million, rather than a 'very hard, very brutal movie without comprimising'....can we add 'very crap' onto that list?

We must all be like the Wii...

Ok then, we will, all admit that whatever our doubts were before Nintendo released the Wii, its a damn interesting machine. Sure, it lacks the brunt of the PS3 and 360, but its hardware, if used correctly by both customers and developers, is genius. Unfortunately, there are a very small number of games which have been produced for the console which are actually any good. The rest seem to be created through the minds of sadists who simply want Wii owners to suffer.

So, what makes the Wii popular? I've ruled out the software above, with the excellent games such as Super Mario Galaxy and Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess (which is getting on a bit now) and a couple of others being mostly Nintendo developed titles and most third party stuff being crap PS2 ports. I reckon its mainly down to the kind of people who when I've asked them about the Wii their response has been.

"Its really fun, I just love playing Wii sports, the bowling is awesome....And Wii fit.....I'm classed as un-fit you know...but still can do all the exercises....how awesome is that!"

Now don't think I'm ridiculing the Wii as a games console. I have played both the games above and admit that they are fun. Unfortunately they only keep my little mind interested for about 10 minutes, and once I've done all the stuff once, I ain't really into doing it again and again every single day.

But, I feel Nintendo really needs to focus on the people who really got them into the position they are as a games company. Those hardcore gamers who decided to purchase Nintendo console after console, and have stuck with the company all the way through the its history. Yes, they do release a Zelda game, and countless Mario games, as well as loads of other first party titles. But they really need something new to hook back those fans, like myself, who have found themselves moving over to more traditional based consoles for a good experience (Smash Bros. Brawl for example is pretty much unplayable with the Wiimote).

What's worse though, is when other companies attempt to copy it, simply to attract the 'casual' audience (though it hurts to use that phrase) which the Wii has so clearly hooked. Sony tried it first with Sixaxis because "Vibration in controllers is completely last Gen..." (Ken Kutaragi)...proved wrong with that one, weren't you. Now the Sixaxis stuff in PS3 games has been more tacked on that many Wii games, so Sony seems safer sticking with Singstar and Buzz....

But, its not just Sony, Apple has also filed a '3D remote control system' for their set top box, Apple TV. Now not exactly the same, but it seems that Apple are attempting to lure people into buying its promise because 'It looks like that Wii majiggy..'. Also with Microsoft's Xbox media summit, that kicks off at some point today, rumours are rife that a Xbox 360 Wiimote esque thing will be shown off. The truth in this is a bit up and down, but either way, it looks like we won't be seeing the end of the these 'Casual Gaming Controlling devices' any time soon.

The Next Level Update- 10/5/08!

As we begin to work out exactly what and how often little things will appear on this blog, here's a round up of things that happened in the past week which caught our attention:

Not Quite Phil

So, Playstation day happened, at the O2 arena, with President of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, David Reeves, being the main presenter. After being used to the bald tall guy Phil Harrison, for however many years, Reeves comes across as a slightly less enthusiastic speaker and presenter. Not sure why, but Phil always seemed to show a massive enthusiasm for games, whether he believed in them or not. But as hes scooted off to Atari, Kaz 'Riiiidddgeee Racer' Hirai and Reeves have become primary speakers for these events. Playable games included Killzone 2 and Motorstorm: Pacific Rift, but many of the games, minus LittleBigPlanet (which still looks awesome) are all sequels. Lets hope they can improve massively on their predecessors, as Killzones textures were the most boring in existence on the ps2, and motorstorm's mud got a little tiring after a while.

Banjo's finally coming back

After Microsoft's acquisition of Rare, makers of popular N64 titles such as Banjo Kazooie and Goldeneye, their titles have been a bit thin on the ground. Now apparently next week, we will get the chance to see properly for the first time 'Banjo Kazooie 3' at Microsoft's San Francisco media summit on Tuesday.







COD5 not going back to the 1940's

After it was revealed that Treyarch would be taking control of the Call Of Duty series after Infinity Wards brilliant 2007 released COD4: Modern Warfare, rumours on the internet have been going around saying that it would be going back to old World War 2. Obviously, this displeased many fans, who believed the modern day setting had given the COD series as massive boost over its rivals. Now, Activision CEO Mike Griffith has revealed that it will take place in 'A new theatre of war'. No one is quite sure what yet, but according to Gamespot, Griffith said that '...[COD4] significantly increased our user base, and we want to engage those users who enjoyed the modern setting. Also revealed that the new James Bond game, being produced by Treyarch, will use the COD4 engine, meaning it could be a new classic.


And Finally...

Saturday morning saw the release of a new Gears of War 2 trailer, with a 'personal introduction' from the big man himself, Epic games design director, Ciffy B, GOW 2 promise to be '...more badass' than the last instalment. According to Microsoft, features of the trailer will include chainsaw duels and a look at the 'stunning new visuals'. More details should be unveiled at MS's media summit next week.