This got me thinking–what do I want from the next round of systems? Do I feel that my gaming experiences on Playstation 3 and Xbox360 are lacking something that the next round of systems could provide? My wants may not be what you’ve heard elsewhere. Click the jump to check out my uninformed ramblings on the subject.

First of all, I’ve got to state for the record that I’m perfectly satisfied with current systems as they are right now. I feel that this past year, developers really displayed how familiar and comfortable they were with this gen’s tech inside the PS3 and Xbox360, and the proof is in the pudding. Uncharted 3, Gears of War 3, and Batman: Arkham City are just three examples of the bumper crop of top tier titles that dropped last year, and games like The Max Payne 3, Prototype 2, and Dragon’s Dogma are looking primed to make 2012 just as exciting as 2011–if not more so.

That being said, here’s a synopsis of what I want from Sony’s, Nintendo’s and Microsoft’s next foray into the console industry.

Nintendo:
I like Nintendo. I’m not a big fan of Nintendo’s portable systems because I have large hands and even the DS XL’s ergonomic design cramps my hands after a while. I do however dig their consoles (I’ve owned everything from NES to Wii), and would like to have reason to add a WiiU to my entertainment center. In order to get my money, Nintendo is going to have to do a few things:

NEW IPs PLEASE!: This is all a matter of personal taste, but I’m going to have to see something other than the next Mario/Zelda/Metroid/MariKart racer to get me to buy this system. Nintendo is one of the most unique circumstances with regard to this; and in my opinion it is both blessing and curse. Their IP stable is at such an iconic stable, Nintendo has had the benefit of resting on its in house laurels. If they want to sell a few extra hundred thousand units, they just crank out another Mario game. I’m not saying that those games aren’t good–they are. I’m just saying that for me, those old school iconic “warm and fuzzies” aren’t going to do it for me this time around. I’m going to need to see some of that “Nintendo magic” that produced a Zelda, and produced a Mario come through again with new and exciting IPs. Nintendo knows how to do that. They just need TO do that.

CONSOLIDATE THE ONLINE STORE: Nintendo has a lot of great games available on their online store. In fact, I think it rivals that of the PSN, but you would never know that looking at that interface. You have to already know what you’re looking for, otherwise digging through the games quickly becomes a chore. With Nintendo having a tablet as a controller for the WiiU, there are a number of interface solutions that can be utilized with a little forethought. Even if they have to borrow a bit from Apple, that storefront needs a major facelift. Also, why do I have to have separate for Wii, and DS DLC? All that needs to be consolidated into one online store front, and one currency–preferably US dollars.

UNIQE GAMEPLAY EXPERIENCES: Nintendo is coming into the HD gaming arena very late. While its all fine and dandy that they say that they’re seriously trying to woo hardcore games to this system, games are going to have unique gameplay experiences that can only be found on WiiU for me to jump on board (not including Nintendo exclusives). Why would I want to play Darksiders 2 on WiiU, when I can get the exact same game on Playstation 3? I played the first game on PS3, I’m familiar with the control method, and graphically–unless the WiiU is a serious beast of a graphics powerhouse, it’ll look identical to the PS3 version. Nintendo is really going to have to encourage 3rd party developers to utilize that WiiPad to create experiences that will make me want to own that 3rd party game on WiiU as opposed to the other HD systems.

Microsoft:
I’ve had my problems with Microsoft’s current console. If the house that Gates built wants to see my money next gen, these points would be a good place to start:

GIVE A DAMN ABOUT YOUR PRODUCT PLEASE!: If you’ve poked around the Gamerhusbands website, or listened to the GHR podcast for any length of time, you’ll discover that I’m a self admitted Playstation fanboy. Why? The answer is simple. I’ve had 7 Xbox360s red-ring. Eight if you include the “fixed” unit BestBuy provided me during my in-store warranty exchange. It matters not how good Xbox LIVE is or will be when the next console is released. It will all be for nothing if the service is provided through an overheating turd wrapped in plastic. I won’t be in that midnight launch lineup in front of BestBuy like I was when the 360 dropped. Instead, I’ll wait a couple of months to get an idea of what the build quality of that system is, before I jump in.

A MORE VARIED 1ST PARTY LINEUP: Halo and Gears are good games. I’m not really an FPS or 3PS maniac, but they are fun. However, I would like to see Microsoft step it up when it comes to their exclusives. There is more to gaming than having a character tote around a gun, and I’d like to see Microsoft make an effort to widen its 1st party genre horizons. Alan Wake by all accounts was a good attempt at doing that. Microsoft needs to do more to cultivate that this next time around. Microsoft has had the luxury of being able to rest on their LIVE laurels to move systems and 3rd party software; I want to see more effort from them in this regard.

SONY:
Sony really doesn’t need to do a whole lot different from what they’re already doing to get my money (yeah, Sony fanboy loud and proud). With a first party lineup that is 2nd to none, the awesome PSN Plus program, and free online, they just need to give me bleeding edge tech without bleeding my wallet too much. Thats not a whole lot to ask is it? Well, this is Sony, so maybe it is. I’m getting the next Playstation regardless, but if Sony included the following points, it would just make the deal that much sweeter:

COMMUNICATION: I don’t understand why Sony doesn’t do this already, but they definitely should with their next system. There should be a headset of some sort included with every system.

BACKWARDS REGION FREE COMPATIBILITY: There is no chance in hell that this is going to happen. I know that, but this is just one of those wishes my niche oriented mind would love to see in Sony’s next console. I have a fairly large collection of Japanese PS2 games–mostly fighters, and quirky action games of varying quality. I would love to be able to play my copy of Sega Ages Dynamite Deka, or Shin Gouketsuji: Bonnou Kaihou, then go to the latest and greatest on one system. Oh well, a man can dream…

TRUE HOME INTEGRATION: I haven’t used Playstation Home since its initial public beta. I found it slow, convoluted, and not very much fun moving my avatar to storefronts amidst the masses of electronic horndogs looking for digital strange. I could see what Sony was trying to introduce to the console space with this feature, and from what I’ve heard, Sony has made significant improvements in Home. The problem? I’ll never see it unless Sony forces me to. I’d like to see Home and PSN integrated in such a way that I can wander the Home landscape or go straight to the media bar seamlessly if I so choose, but Sony must make Home and PSN one to truly accomplish this.

SiliconEra has reported on some Tweets from Team Ninja regarding info on Ninja Gaiden 3 – specifically, the new role Ninpo will play, and how Ultimate Techniques are activated in the upcoming title.

In the past, Ninpo had more than one use. The fireball was a good way to lay heavy damage on a single enemy (I used it mostly during boss fights), while the electric Ninpo was good at zapping multiple enemies at close range. Also, Ninpo had another useful benefit–Ryu was invincible during the startup animations and execution of the magic; providing nifty method of bypassing a heavy damage boss attack.

Now, per Team Ninja’s tweets, Ninpo serves as the only means in which Ryu can regain health. No more elixir bottles or blue karma orbs. Instead, the Dragon Ninpo will devour enemies which will in turn give Ryu health. The more enemies consumed, the more health Ryu gets, so there is a “high risk, high return” element to Ryu’s health management. What isn’t mentioned is whether or not the Dragon Ninpo will be the only magic Ryu will have access to.

There’s a substantial change to the Ultimate Techniques as well. Before, you absorbed karma orbs into your weapon by pressing down hard attack, or held down hard attack long enough for your weapon to build enough energy. Now, Ryu’s arm glows red after a few enemies are slain, and when the strong attack button is held down, the Ultimate Technique is unleashed. Per the tweet, you can cancel out of a combo and go into a UT.

To be honest, this is really the first promising news that I’ve heard that the Ninja Gaiden I remember may not be totally lost to the dark abyss of mainstream mediocrity. I like the risk/reward with the Ninpo, and I like the change in how UTs can be used. I can see how combo canceling could be quite punishing in boss encounters. I just hope that these changes will rely on player skill to be used effectively instead of being a mainstream crutch to lure the casual on board.

For those who were unaware, the Tokyo Game Show (Japan’s E3) kicked off the 15th of September and wrapped up over the weekend. No bombshells were dropped, but there were some announcements gameplay videos, and trailers shown that put a pip in this niche gamer’s step. So, instead of doing a drawn out article, I’ll touch on just a couple of highlights with links to complete write ups and video. Click the jump to see what’s groovy.

Persona 4: Ultimate in Mayokana Arena
Basically, its a 2D fighting game featuring characters from Persona4. I’ve never played a Persona game, (RPGs typically aren’t my genre) but what really caught my attention was who was handling the coding duties. The masters of 2D sprite goodness at Arc System Works are working their magic on this one, and if it plays as good as it looks (and it should, since these guys did the Guilty Gear and BlazBlue series) I’ll be all over this one.

Hit up Gamespot for their hands on write up.

Check out GameTrailers to see the game in action.
Image from Gamespot

Playstation Vita

Japan gets a release date of December 17, 2011. Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 confirmed as part of the launch group of games. My heart says import, but my brain says, “BEWARE–REGION LOCK”. Thats okay, I’ll be up to my armpits in top tier console titles anyway, and my disposable income goes only so far. I can wait for a US release for this geek sexy tech.

Vita Conference Impressions by 1Up
Image by 1Up

Ninja Gaiden 3
If you’ve spent any amount of time here on the Gamerhusbands site, you know that my fanboy-ism for the Ninja Gaiden series know no bounds. As a gamer with 3rd person brawlers as my favorite genre, it is the Ninja Gaiden series that is the gold standard that all other brawlers are measured against.

That said, I’ve got some concerns about NG3. Online competitive multiplayer, Move support, QTE looking gameplay elements, and a supposed Dragon Sword only weapon load out are but some of my causes for concern that this title may not hold to the legacy this series has laid out for itself. Hopefully TeamNinja can bring it–even without Itagaki at the helm.

Yosuke Hayashi talks NG3’s style and focus change at GameTrailers

NG3 gameplay (and soldiers begging for mercy) video at GameTrailers

See the source of Ryu’s curse in “Consequences” TGS trailer at GameTrailers
Image from Gamingunion.net

Capcom revealed some details regarding the party system for the upcoming Dragon’s Dogma. While there is no true co-op in the game, there is a “Pawn” system implemented that sounds pretty cool. The short story is, the main character (no word on whether this person is customizable or not) will have 3 “Pawns” with him. The player will get to customize 1 Pawn who will be at your side at all times. This Pawn will be fully customizable, can be shared online, and will affect the story of the game.

Instead of re-writing the details, I’ll point you to Destructoid’s in depth article on the Pawn system as it is now. Personally, I’m hyped about this game. Here’s hoping implementation is as good as it sounds.

What happens when you mix relationship pressures, infidelity, and supernatural nightmares? If you’re Vincent Brooks, you’re finding out the hard way, and it ain’t pretty. Your days are spent trying to keep your girlfriend Katherine from finding out about your mistress Catherine, while your figure out exactly what you want from a relationship. Your nights are spent simply trying to live to see another sunrise, as you and your fellow stray sheep struggle to not become another statistic of men being found dead in their sleep; their bodies reduced to shriveled hunks of flesh and bone beneath their sheets.

This is the world of Catherine, Atlus’ latest RPG adventure. Its a bizarre mix of anthropomorphic sheep, block towers, life sim, and ghastly supernatural foes. Is this a formula for success, or failure? If you’re so inclined, click the jump for the answer.

Before I get too far, let me make these 2 points. RPGs aren’t a genre I typically play. Valkarie Profile 1 & 2, Jade Empire, Odin Sphere, and Muramasa are the extent of my RPG experience. Point two is there will be no spoilers in this review, so read without worry.

That being said, its my opinion that Catherine may be the most revolutionary RPG I’ve ever played (my limited genre experience a given). Not so much for what the game does, but how it weaves together the key elements that are needed to make a top tier RPG, and presents them to the player.

Lets start with the subject matter. While there have been many RPGs that involve the building of romantic relationships between characters, Catherine is the first I’ve heard of (mainstream console based RPGs anyway) in which the relationship is the focus of the game; specifically the act of infidelity, and its consequences on a relationship make up every aspect of the game. Allow me to try to explain:

In a traditional RPG (Japanese or western), you are given a set of characters. Through the writing in the overarching story, and dialogue during character interaction, a connection is made between the main character, and the supporting cast that draws the player in. As you see bonds solidify or whither between these characters; either by story elements or dialogue choices made by the player, you become vested and involved with those characters. In effect, you come to care about them and how they interact with each other and the world and other characters around them while trying to accomplish whatever the common goal in the RPG is.

The genius behind what Atlus did with Catherine is that they extracted the romantic aspect; common to many modern RPGs–and successfully built an entire game around it. The presentation, writing, and camera work in this game is simply brilliant. The overall story is presented like a late night TV drama presented by the very Foxy Brown inspired Midnight Venus. Though you only really see her at the beginning intro and the end of the game, she has a classic cool 70s vibe that makes you remember her. As Vincent interacts with his friends Johnny, Orlando, Erica, Toby, and various other folks at the Stray Sheep bar (the game’s hub), you feel like a patron overhearing their conversations. Their discussions flow more organically than what I’ve experienced in other RPGs I’ve played. Responses sound like what you’d expect to hear if you were sitting with a group of your long time buddies bs’ing about your problems over a round of drinks.

Another thing about the supporting characters that I love is that they all aid Vincent in different ways emotionally as he deals with the decisions he makes, and their ramifications. Even Katherine and Catherine appeal to both sides of Vincent’s emotional coin; so to speak. Katherine is the attractive, rock-steady girlfriend appealing to Vincent’s desire for stability. Catherine (the woman he cheats with) on the other hand is the somewhat younger “smoking hot” chick. She appeals to Vincent’s emotional desire to be spontaneous, and free spirited. She lives life in a youthful care-free style Vincent emotionally wants to hold on to as he gets older; and she brings that vibrancy to Vincent’s libido as well. What the two have in common is that fidelity is of the utmost importance in a romantic relationship to both of them.

As Vincent chats it up with his buddies and fellow patrons, he’ll receive texts on his cell phone from Katherine and Catherine. As the player selects how Vincent responds to his buddies, and the texts from the women in his life, those responses affect his “morality” meter; for lack of a better description. Those responses (as well as those in the Nightmare world–more on that later) dictate how Vincent responds to Katherine, and Catherine, as he struggles to keep the two of them from finding out about each other and figure what he truly wants from a romantic relationship.

When Vince goes home and falls asleep, he’s sucked into the Nightmare world. All those around him appear as talking sheep. Only Vincent appears human; with sheep horns on his head (there is a reason for that which I won’t reveal). Vincent and his fellow nightmare victims are forced to climb the towers by a supernatural entity in order to earn the right to see another day.

The actual gameplay of Catherine are these Nightmare levels. The towers consist of blocks that Vincent must move in order to progress higher; eventually reaching the top, and escaping the round. As he climbs the blocks below drop to the abyss below so you’re forced to think on your feet. Your nightmare ends with a humongous boss biting at your heels as you climb the final tower for each level. Simply describing the bosses would give away key elements to Catherine’s story, so what I will say is they are some of the most aesthetically bizarre and creepy bosses I’ve ever seen in an RPG. The creativity in the design in some of them made my jaw drop. Bosses add another layer of intense urgency as you try to figure out the towers and escape the level. Their attacks have an area affect that can range from instant death to Vincent, to affecting the properties of the blocks he has to climb.

As Vincent completes each tower, he arrives at a landing. There, he can interact with his fellow Nightmare victims, purchase tower items that aid him as he climbs. Elixers allow Vince to leap 2 blocks at a time during duration. Spell books destroy obstacles in his way, etc. The landings are also where Vincent learns climbing techniques through talking with other sheep. As the towers become more and more complex, all the techniques you learn must be used in order to solve them. The landing is also where Vincent interacts with the supernatural entity responsible for these nightmares. Vincent’s responses to the entity account for a large portion of the affect on Vincent’s moral meter, and how he will respond to Katherine and Catherine in the cut scenes to come. Another cool aspect with this part, is as you answer questions from the entity, you get to see some meta-data pulled from other player responses through PSN (I’m sure it does the same thing on Xbox), and that data is represented as a pie chart as you begin the next level. It has no bearing on your game, but it’s another cool thing this game does.

Therein lies the second half of this game’s genius. Granted climbing and manipulating cubes isn’t anything new in videogames. Games like Q-bert and Intelligence Cube did the same thing in essence years earlier. The brilliance is how well this gameplay mechanic meshes with the subject of the game’s story so perfectly. Vincent spends his waking hours trying to juggle his excuses to hide his infidelity from the two women in his life in order to preserve his relationship, either with Katherine–his girlfriend, or Catherine–his mistress. At night, Vincent is forced to juggle blocks to draw closer to the goal of surviving another night. The symbiotic and analogous relationship between the game’s story and the gameplay is simply; I’ll say it again–brilliant.

Before you decide if Catherine is the game for you, there are a couple you’ll have to consider. At its core, this is a puzzle game with RPG elements, more so than an RPG. Climbing blocks IS the gameplay. You do nothing else but that. The other thing to consider, is that this game is hard. I made the mistake of playing on the normal level. I was able to solve the puzzles on my own up to the 5th level. From then on to the end of the game, I was on YouTube watching the solutions, and trying to copy the block moves verbatim.

If you don’t let those two facts daunt you, what you’ll find is that Catherine delivers a truly adult and mature story. Given the sexual nature of the subject matter, you’ll not find a single bare breast, or exposed butt cheek; contrary to some concerns about the game pre-release, and I think that adds to Atlus’ creative brilliance with this project. They could’ve taken the low road and “pushed the envelope” (a la Duke Nukem: Forever). Instead they put their creative juices to work creating a fantastic story that any adult; wether they’ve dealt with issues of fidelity or not, can relate to.

Give this game a shot. Atlus deserves your hard earned cash with a purchase, but even if you’re still reluctant, at least give it a rent. You’ll be rewarded with a story that will keep you wanting to know what happens next, mind bending gameplay, and a kick-ass soundtrack. “Yo” being my personal favorite. This is a GOTY contender big time.

Grade: A+

Marketing. Its amazing how industries are willing to spend oodles of money to figure out how to get into our wallets by way of our heads.

As we all know, marketing is no stranger to the gaming industry. The tactic of using a videogame to sell another product isn’t new either. We all remember those Xbox360 Burger King games right? How many of us remember Yo! Noid for NES? Well, there was one even before the Noid. It was a great big ‘ol glass pitcher of water, sugar, and powder granules of fruit flavor. The game was Kool Aid Man for the Intellivision, and it was the first time I fell for a marketing campaign hook, line and sinker. So, if you’re so inclined, allow me to set the Way-Back Machine to 1983, where a skinny, nerdy, young ShoNuff (I’m still nerdy. Skinny and young–not so much) learned an early lesson about marketing hype.

I must have been around 11 or 12 years old, when one Sunday (don’t ask me how I can remember this, when I can’t even remember what I had for lunch today) I was looking through the comics section of my local newspaper. Somewhere between Beetle Bailey and Hagaar the Horrible, I saw a color add for Kool Aid mix. Normally I would have bypassed it, but something caught my eye. At the top of the add, were pictures of the Kool Aid Man videogame. They had one version for Atari 2600, and another version for Intellivision. Being the hardcore Mattel fanboy that I was, I knew which version I wanted to get.

It was and is a common belief among stand-up comedians that African-American households with children usually have Kool Aid readily available–especially grape. The exact opposite was the case in my household growing up. I had more Kool Aid as an adult than I ever did as a kid. As a matter of fact, before I saw that add, the only time I had Kool Aid was at a birthday party or backyard bbq at someone’s house. I didn’t dislike Kool Aid; its just that at the time, we had a local soda manufacturer and distributor called the Pop Shop. They made the best soda ever devised by mortal men. When my dad and I would go we’d always come back with at least two or three cases of the stuff in the back of his truck. Cooler still, was that they gave kids a tour of the plant; ending with an ice cold cup of Pop-Shop soda straight from the tap of any flavor they had. I always chose lemon. Most kids dream of being a cop, a fireman, or the President of the United States. Me? I wanted to run the machines at the Pop-Shop. Anyway–I’m digressing. Back to Kool Aid Man.

So anyway, I proceeded to beg my folks for Kool Aid Man–as I did for any game I saw for Intellivision. The answer was the same: “Keep your grades up, and we’ll see what happens.”

The way you got the game was that you had to send in a bunch of proofs of purchases of Kool Aid drink mixes. Honestly I don’t remember how many you had to send. Wikipedia says you had to send in 125 proofs plus “shipping and handling” to get the free game. I’m not really sure how many it was, but I remember that for quite a while, I must have drunk my body weight in Kool Aid mix–still with no guarantee that my folks would send away for it. Oh, and before you ask–yes, my folks (especially my dad) were the kind of parents to let their kid drink himself silly on Kool Aid and NOT send away for the game if I screwed up on grades, or behavior.

Well, I didn’t screw up, they sent a ton of proofs of purchases out, and in about a month or so, I received Kool Aid Man for Intellivision. The gameplay premise is this: It was a 2D game (as was every game back then–no polygons in 1983, yo). You play the part of 2 children trapped in a 3 story haunted house. The two kids traveled as one. You had to get all the ingredients (i.e: pitcher, the mix, and the sugar) and bring them to the kitchen sink. Standing in your way were the Thirsties–the antagonists of Kool Aid Man in the commercial campaigns in the ‘80s. If a child was touched by a Thirsty, they would scream, and be frozen in place. At that time, you would only be able to control the other child. If both children got caught, the game was over.

Once you brought all the ingredients to the kitchen sink, Kool Aid Man would appear–complete with busting through a brick wall and the Kool Aid theme playing. At that point, you take control of Kool Aid Man. The children disappear, and the house becomes filled with flavor ghosts that you can grab for points. That was how you built your score. Once you caught the two Thirsties, the round would end, and it all started over.

Kool Aid Man had an irritating play mechanic that I picked up on really quick. Normally, the Thirsties would run from Kool Aid, giving you plenty of room to move the slow as molasses glass of sugar water around to grab the flavor ghosts. As your score increases though, the Thirsties become suicidal, literally running toward Kool Aid like some thirst-quenching jihadists; causing the round to end and not allowing you to catch flavor ghosts.

I played Kool Aid Man pretty hard for about a day or two. Then, like the oodles of Kool Aid mix I had to drink, the game started to wear me down. Not being able to build up my score was frustrating, and soon, I was back to Night Stalker, Space Hawk, and AstroSmash. It was a long time–in fact I think I was in my 20s–before I had another drink of KoolAid. I drank enough for two lifetimes. The game won’t even boot up now. I can get a title screen, but when the control disc is pressed, the screen goes black. Of all the games I have for Intellivision, its the only one that doesn’t still work. Don’t know when it stopped working, either. Thats why this is a retrospective review–I had to write this from memory. Still, as I look back on my memories of that game, it has a certain endearment to it, which is probably why I still have it. Its also a reminder of a lesson I learned way back then–all that glitters in the marketing machine looking glass, isn’t necessarily gold.

RetroGrade: F (Because my damn game that I drank all that Kool Aid for won’t work)

The battle between the used games market and game publishers heats up a few more degrees courtesy of Capcom.

In Resident Evil: The Mercenaries for 3DS, there will only be one save slot that–if I’m understanding the GameStooge article correctly–can’t be deleted or reset. This apparently means that if I bought the game new, unlocked everything and traded it in, whoever bought the game used would be stuck with my game save. They won’t be able to experience the game themselves. If RE: Mercenaries is anything like the Mercenaries mode from Resident Evil 5, a big chunk of the fun in that mode was unlocking additional characters, skins, and levels yourself. Capcom by pulling this stunt has effectively made the game less fun (in my opinion) if you buy it used.

Of course Capcom claims no nefarious intent with this save method. Capcom Community rep Shawn Baxter stated: “RE Mercs was treated like an arcade fighting game. You unlock characters, levels, etc and they just stay unlocked as they would in an arcade machine.” (See his entire statement on the GameStooge article).

I’m sorry, but I’m calling shenanigans on this. I never played a fighting game at the arcade where every character in the game wasn’t available. Unless I’m mistaken in the arcade version of Tekken 6, and the arcade version of Super Streetfighter 4 certain characters were on timed unlock, meaning that after a certain amount of time passed, a new character becomes available. Its mostly a means to keep folks hyped about a game; primarily the console release, since traditional arcades are all but dead here in the States.

I’ve always said–If companies want to slow down the used market, they should make better games, and offer better deals. Places like Kmart, Amazon, and Best Buy offer deals on some games that make it almost a waste to wait for a title to come out used. They don’t have to resort to removing the fun out of a game if you buy it used. If Capcom and other publishers keep this silliness up, they might find their games collecting dust on the shelves–new and used.

According to an article from Andriasang.com (I read the article via GameStooge.com) a slimmer “greener” Playstation3 might be on the way.

According to the article, the model sku is labeled CHECH-3000B, weigh 5.7lbs, and consume 200W of power. In comparison, the current PS3 Slim weighs 6.6lbs, consumes 230W of power. No information as to changes in chipset were mentioned, although it would stand to reason that too would also be the case.

Curiously enough, the article denies that there will be a drop in price with the introduction of this new SKU. To me, it would stand to reason that a price drop could be implemented as the cost of tech tends to drop as it matures; case in point–the cost of BluRay drives, hard drives, etc.

When viewed in light of a recent interview Jack Trenton did with Forbes Magazine (an article I also read via GameStooge) this new SKU rumor holds more weight in my mind. Tretton specifically referenced Nintendo’s announcement of the Wii U, basically saying that Sony wasn’t feeling any pressure to get a PS4 to market.

Of course Nintendo never has been Sony’s competition this console generation–its Microsoft. Any news of the next Playstation will be focused on when Microsoft announces theirs–or when Sony thinks they’ll announce–at least thats how I see it.

It seems the more I learn about the Wii U, the more questions I have regarding Nintendo’s bizarre handling of their new console’s announcement.

According to WatchPlayRead.com by way of CVG, Nintendo will not be releasing their iPad-ish controller separately. It will only be available bundled with the Wii U. According to an un-named Nintendo rep, the Wii U was developed around a “one tablet philosophy.”

This brings on a whole slew of new questions in my mind. First, if I’m only getting one tablet with the Wii U, how am I going to play couch co-op or vs play with any game that has a more complex control scheme? Will the WiiPad (thats what I’m calling it) allow you to tether a more traditional controller solution to it? Would the pad act as a “wireless hub” allowing you to connect multiple controllers to it? There must be some unrevealed controller for the Wii U that will allow you to play more complex games. I don’t see anyone playing the next Mass Effect or Dead Space on a Wiimote. In my mind thats the only solution that makes any sense.

From another angle: How are consumers going to get replacements for the WiiPad should they become damaged, if there is no sku for the controller to be sold by itself? Will I have to box up the whole damn thing and send it back? What about my game saves and DLC? If its tied to the system as it is to the Wii, I’ll have to start everything over. Since Nintendo didn’t announce any details at all about the console, this just adds a whole new layer of questions.

I’ve owned every console Nintendo put out (with the exception of the portables and the Virtual Boy), and I’m hoping that once all the smoke clears I’ll be hyped to drop my pre-order cash on this system. Right now, all I see is confusion surrounding this system. Here’s hoping Nintendo can pull it all together.

Image from CVG

Recoil Games introduced Rochard, their upcoming PSN exclusive due out this summer. Rochard is a 2D platform puzzler, with an emphasis on physics based problem solving.

The premise of the game is pretty straight forward. You play as Rochard, a space miner for a company called Sky Rig. When your company discovers an alien artifact, they find themselves under attack by pirates. Its up to you to save yourself and your comrades from the pirates, and find out what the big deal is about the artifact.

The tools that Rochard has at his disposal are a grapple gun which he uses to grab crates and other inanimate objects in the world. Once an object has been grabbed, it can be fired from the gun and used a means of taking out a pirate, or to place the object in the appropriate spot to solve a puzzle. Another tool at his disposal is that Rochard can dial down the gravity a bit allowing him to jump further, or when used in conjunction with the grapple gun, allow him to traverse wide gaps with the proper placement of objects.

The art style reminds a bit of the character designs from Team Fortress. The game looks like a lot of fun to play. Check out the PlaystationBlog for a full write up and trailer for this fun looking title.

Image from Official Playstation Blog

1Up interviewed Vanillaware’s George Kamitani about their upcoming PS3 PSVita title Dragon’s Crown.

The game is shaping up to be a spiritual successor of sorts to Capcom’s Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom arcade game–a game George worked on during his days at Capcom.

Gameplay is in a similar vein to Golden Axe, and those classic D&D arcade games. Players will battle their way through large monster and treasure laden mazes in the lush 2D watercolor like art style Vanillaware is know for (i.e. Odin Sphere, and Muramasa: The Demon Blade). The game won’t be a standard hack ‘n slasher as George hinted at RPG elements such as weapon durability, and players needing to decide if their party is leveled up enough to take on a boss. He described a scenario in which a red dragon boss is asleep atop a massive mound of treasure. Players can attempt to steal the treasure, causing the dragon to awaken and battle it there, or the team to try to escape to a bridge that can’t support the dragon’s weight causing it to fall. His idea is to have different ways to handle boss characters; even if the team as a whole isn’t strong enough to deal with the boss in a heads-up fight.

George didn’t go into detail about everything about the game, as details are still being worked out. The game is going to be for Playstation3 and PSVita (with cross play) with a launch set only as Spring 2012. Check out the E3 trailer on YouTube.

It is games like this that pay homage to the classic 2D gameplay that I remember so fondly that I crave. I can’t wait to play this game.

Image from 1Up.com.

Anyone remember an old Konami arcade game called Jackal? One or two players took control of armed jeeps to rescue prisoners of war. Well the folks at Avalanche Studios must, because they showed a 4 player HD-fied version of that core gameplay at E3. The game is called Renegade Ops, and is being published by Sega. The game will be a downloadable title hitting PC, PSN, and XBLA sometime this year. GameTrailers has gameplay footage of the sharp looking game.

Image from Gamertell.com

The more I see of this game, the more hyped I am for it. Capcom is handling the publishing rights, while the wizards at CyberConnect2 (creators of the fantastic Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm series) bring this new IP to life. Awesome looking combat, planet sized bosses, and protagonist who makes Kratos look mild mannered–sign me up. Check out these video trailers from Siliconera.com’s site.

Image from Aeropause.com

Gameplay of Ninja Gaiden 3 was shown today. I’ve watched the footage on GameTrailers, as well as the hands on demo on G4’s coverage. While I’m happy to see latest episode in what I think is the greatest action series ever I have to temper my excitement with some skepticism.

This is the first Ninja Gaiden project sans Itagaki at the helm. Well, not just him, but a lot of Team Ninja’s core coders who made Ninja Gaiden Black so awesome aren’t there anymore.

The project leader Yosuke Hayashi mentioned the combat system called “steel on bone” technique several times in his GameTrailers interview. To me, after looking at the gameplay footage, “steel on bone” seems to be a fancy phrase for quick time events. When the button flashes and the player pushes the button, a heavy damage blow is dealt to the opponent. This doesn’t necessarily finish off your enemy. A lot of the time during the game play footage, they stumbled back bleeding profusely, begging for their lives. Hayashi stated that this was done in an attempt to show Ryu’s enemies as real people, and bring the player closer to what it might be like to cut through someone with a katana.

Speaking of weapons, although not explicitly stated by Hayashi, the katana (I would assume its the Dragon Sword) may be Ryu’s only weapon throughout the great majority of the game. The sword, Ryu’s apparent affliction (his right arm seems infected), and the apparent focus on the sword are all part of making Ryu a “Japanese dark hero” as opposed to being just the killing machine he was in the first two games.

Some differences between the first two games and this one: First up, you can do stealth kills in this game. You can sneak up on an unwary soldier by walking up behind them, hit the strong attack button (triangle in this case as the game was being played on PS3) to relatively silently dispatch your opponent.

Secondly, based on what was shown in the demo, the karma system of powering up your weapons seems to be gone. There wasn’t a karma orb to be found on the screen–which could be due to Ryu being a one weapon man this outing. While it would be premature to say that the Spider Clan and the Fiends won’t be making appearances in this game, Ryu spent most of his time in the demo cutting down Special Ops looking soldiers, ending with a confrontation with some sort of multi-legged mech.

I wouldn’t want to speak for Itagaki, but I would think that if one of his employees came to him with the idea to put quick time events in a Ninja Gaiden project he was heading up, he’d ask for his immediate resignation. Ninja Gaiden as a collective series has the greatest combat system of any 3rd person hack ‘n slash or brawler. It doesn’t need to rely on the crutch that has become the QTE.

Another point of concern is this desire to explore Ryu as a “dark hero”, and there was talk of creating a story that “made sense.” I don’t want them to turn Ryu into a brooding emo. Nor do I need my Ninja Gaiden games to have story lines that make sense. The wacky craziness is part of the charm with these games. I’m fine with cutting down soldiers, but I want to hack the Spider Clan, and Fiends with combat system that is second to none. I want a supporting cast of female characters that have boobs with ridiculous proportions, and s story that makes no sense in any way shape or form. That is the Ninja Gaiden I want. Obviously this new Team Ninja is taking it in a new direction. I just hope they don’t forget what made Ninja Gaiden the best action series in the world–that being the finger busting combat.

No release date was given. The demo was being played on a Playstation3, but I would assume the game will come to Xbox360 as well.

Image from Joystiq.com

Namco Bandai Games dropped a new trailer for their Project Aces developed game Ace Combat: Assault Horizon. Seems Tom Clancey-ish, but looks great all the same. You’ll be able to take to the skies on your PS3 and XB360 on October 11th, 2011. Click the GameTrailers jump.

Publisher THQ unveiled a trailer for Relic developed Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine. Its a visceral 3rd person shooter/action game that looks pretty good. Release date is September 6th, 2011 for PC, PS3 and XB360. Click the GameTrailers link for all the troll giblet goodness.

Nintendo’s press event was a very familiar one in the beginning. A lot of must have Nintendo franchises will be making appearances on Nintendo’s portable systems, and Wii. Most notably, Zelda’s 25 Anniversary is being celebrated with 4 Swords for DSi, Ocarina of Time 3D for 3DS, and Skyward Sword for Wii.

Also announced were symphonic concerts celebrating the music of Zelda, as well as 2 music cds. One will be of the music from the upcoming symphonic concert tour, and the other will be the soundtrack Ocarina of Time 3D offered free to those who register their copy of the game with Club Nintendo.

Mario Kart, Star Fox, a new Super Mario 3D, and a Pokemon Pokedex 3D update are coming to 3DS. Most interesting for me was to see Luigi’s Mansion make a return, and some impressive gameplay of Kid Ikarus Uprising.

Now, for the proverbial “elephant in the room.” Nintendo announces it’s new home console as Wii U, and only highlights….the controller?! I didn’t understand this part of the press conference at all. There is finally a Nintendo console with HD graphics to respond to the requests of the hardcore, and there are no specs discussed. Knowing that Wii U’s controller will interact with the Wii’s peripherals and Wiimote is fine and dandy, but I need information on the actual Wii U console. Is the native display 720p 1080i, or 1080p? What is the method of media? Is it DVD, BluRay, or some Nintendo proprietary format? Is there an internal hard drive, or will there be a need to use external SIM cards? What will the online infrastructure be like? Will there be friend codes? Hell, they don’t even show what the console looks like, but they highlight the fact that they put analog sticks, face buttons, and triggers on an iPad. All I know is, if I were Steve Jobs, I’m talking to my attorneys. I’m not understanding this move at all.

Perhaps the Wii U if further away from prime time than we all thought. Perhaps Nintendo is holding out for a proper unveiling at the Tokyo Game Show in August. All I know is, this has got to be the worst introduction of new console hardware at a high profile event like E3 I’ve ever seen. I’ll state it again–how can a company not discuss the specs of its new product; they didn’t even show it?

By the way, what happened to the Wii? Based on the way they treated it at the press conference, you’d think it was the PSP. Other than an announcement for Skyward Sword, the Wii wasn’t even mentioned.

I was really looking forward to Nintendo’s unveiling of its new console, but I came away from this press event more befuddled than anything else. I am interested to know more about Wii U, but they didn’t show me, or tell me nearly enough to get hyped about it. Hopefully more data will be forthcoming at E3, but this needed a lot more work. Nintendo faithful have familiar franchises to look forward to on 3DS, but as a whole, this was a poor press event.

Grade: F

With Microsoft’s conference, Kinect took center stage. Kinect voice and motion technology was showcased in some impressive games. Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, Mass Effect 3, and Forza 4 showed some interesting aspects as to how dialogue choices, squad commands, and driver viewpoints could increase immersion experiences in hardcore games with Kinect.

Microsoft wants your Xbox to be the center of your home entertainment as well. Features like LIVE TV will bring live television streaming through your console. One of the more interesting stage demos of LIVE programing was the interaction in UFC LIVE, where it seems like you can place friendly wagers on how a fight will conclude with LIVE friends. Two internet knowns YouTube and Bing are coming to LIVE’s feature set as well.

To satiate the traditional hardcore, an impressive stage demo of the co-op campaign was shown of Gears3, featuring Cliff and Ice-T.

The rest of the show revolved around a bunch of Kinect specific games. It ran the gauntlet from Minecraft to Star Wars; and Kinect Sports 2 to Fable: Journey. Toss in some Dance Central 2, Sesame Street, and Disneyland for good measure, and you have…Disappointment.

I can’t fake the funk. It is HARD to give a fair write-up for something you have little to no interest in. Its a weakness I have as a writer, and I freely admit it. At the risk of being called an Xbox hater, or a Sony fanboy, I’m referring to these posts of the E3 conference events as “impressions” for a reason. I’m using a tiny slice of internet real estate to express my unimportant opinion of what the big 3 are going to leave me with, with regard to desire for their product–and Microsoft left me very little to be desired.

There is no doubt in my mind that there is some serious tech behind the Kinect peripheral. That much is clear. However using it to turn licenses like Fable and Star Wars into little more than fancy rail shooters isn’t the way to showcase the strengths of this device. I don’t think Microsoft themselves know how to harness it yet. The stage demos of Kinect Funlabs points to a vast horizon of gameplay possibilities, but in my opinion, we’re going to have to wait until the next generation of Xbox before we see some truly immersive potentially game changing scenarios for gamers.

This press event showed Microsoft’s game plan clearly. All of the focus is being put toward Kinect, and they are leaving the games to the 3rd party developers. They are resting on their laurels when it comes to the hardcore in my opinion. Aside from Gears 3 and Forza 4, I didn’t see a single traditional core game that couldn’t be found on the Playstation3. Call of Duty is multi-platform. Tomb Raider is multi-platform. Ghost Recon is multi-platform. Mass Effect 3 is multi-platform. Set those 2 titles next to the virtual laundry list of PS3 exclusives coming and my point is made even more apparent.

Its been just about a year since I shed my Xbox360. And to be honest, deep down in my Sony fanboy gut, I was secretly hoping to see a reason to want to jump back on the Xbox juggernaut. While my 6 year old great nephew went crazy over seeing Kinect Disney and Sesame Street, his old, jaded, niche oriented great uncle (me) saw very little to be excited about. Gears 3 looks awesome. Call of Duty looks good too, if I cared about that series. Right now, the only reason for me to get another Xbox would be for Ninja Gaiden 3, and Guardian Heroes; but those will hit PS3 too, and Gears alone isn’t enough to warrant another 360 purchase for me.

I’ll bet that the next iteration of Xbox will yield something special with Kinect, but for right now, I’m looking at PS3, and Vita; with a hopeful interest in Nintendo’s Wii successor.

Grade C-

Sony’s press conference was an interesting one. To begin with, they didn’t hide from, as Jack put it, “the elephant in the room.” Both Jack and Kaz addressed the PSN outage well. They thanked those that make these multi-billion corporations successful–us. I’m sure there are many who will say that they should have spent more time talking about it, but I think the subject got the appropriate amount of attention. Doing anymore would have taken the focus off of the point of the E3 press event–the products.

Games took center stage. Gameplay demos of Uncharted 3, InFamous, and Resistance 3 looked real good. Uncharted is the no-brainer–game looks freakin’ awesome. But what did surprise me was gameplay footage of Starhawk, and Resistance 3. I’m not much of a multiplayer shooter guy, but both those titles have me pretty hyped. I have a feeling I’ll be spending quite a bit of time with both those titles.

What really surprised me was the introduction of Sony’s 3D bundle starter. A 22” 3D display, a pair of active shutter glasses, and a copy of Resistance 3 for $499 is a brilliant move. I’m by no means a 3D adopter as it stands now (I wear prescription glasses) but this is a great way to get the technology into more homes. Another smart move was not to make the glasses proprietary with only Sony displays. These glasses are supposed to be compatible with a number of different 3D TV makes. Very smart.

Playstation Vita…Not such a hot name, but one hot piece of mobile gaming tech. Seeing an Uncharted look as good as it did on a freaking handheld was amazing. Front and back cams, OLED screen, a touch pad in the back, plus dual analog sticks makes for an impressive package. Not only does Sony have the tech, they have the price: $249.99 for the Wi-Fi version and $299.99 for the 3G puts this unit in direct competition with Nintendo’s 3DS. I will be first in line to drop my pre-order bucks, and to pick up the system when it launches. Not just Uncharted, but Mod Nation Racers, Ruin, LBP, as well as Streetfighter X Tekken look fantastic, and games like LBP and MNR look like they have Vita specific ways to make creation even more simpler on the new handheld based on the demos. Personally, I’ll take my Streetfighters and Uncharteds on my PS3, but I can’t wait to see some of those other games demoed and in the video montage.

On the downside: I know Sony is doing its best to justify it, but Sony’s Move controller just is not a controller for the hardcore. I understand what they’re trying to do, but I think there was too much attention put on the Move. I don’t care what Kobe says, the hardcore aren’t going to adopt Move controls for NBA 2K 12. I’m sorry, but having that House of the Dead looking cursor on screen with a basketball simulation game just didn’t look right. The Resistance Doomsday Edition is going to collect dust on the shelves. The hardcore want sticks and buttons. Not waggle. And I’m sorry, but I’m not buying Levine’s Bioshock Infinite plea to the hardcore regarding Move controls on that game. Its not going to get the those who have never tried a Bioshock game before to get one with waggle. The only reason I’ve contemplated getting a Move is to play Dead Space Extraction, but I can guarantee you I won’t be using it to play Bioshock, Resistance, or any other traditional game.

The other downer for me was that there was no showing or planning of a PSN reboot. I’m not talking about the rumored Steam functionality, I’m talking about the Vita. PS Vita’s connectivity interface is completely different from the Cross Media Bar, and function set of the PSN right now. Vita will support cross game chat, and location features that the PSN doesn’t have. If full connectivity and interaction between Vita and Playstation 3 is going to be achieved, it has to include a redux of the Playstation Network’s user interface. Maybe this change will come as the Vita’s launch approaches, but I was hoping to see it; or at least have it mentioned during the presser.

All in all, for the type of gamer I am, this presser made me glad that I own a Playstation 3. Sony addressed my needs for the most part as a hardcore gamer, and they will be getting a big chunk of my disposable income this year and next. I’ll wear my Sony fanboy badge with pride. lol

Grade: A-

Image from Official Playstation Blog.com

E3 is literally around the corner, and news (other than the PSN outage) has been pretty slow for a while, since the big guns are going to be revealed at the big event. I personally am more excited for this E3 than I have been in prior years, as I’m expecting to hear more info about the type of games I enjoy, and Sony and Nintendo will be dropping info on new systems.

As with most old folks, excitement for new things brings up nostalgia for old things, and this excitement I’m feeling this year sparked excitement to revisit my gaming roots. So, I decided to do a short series of retro reviews of some classic gaming gems that are near and dear to me. The images are from games in my library.

The game to chose to kick this thing off was an easy decision. It was the game that first got me ridiculously excited about gaming at home. That game was Night Stalker.

Its 1982. I’m a skinny, nerdy 11 year old kid walking through the Gottschalks department store with my mom. As usual, I want to go over to electronics section to play at the Atari display they had set up at the counter. As I approach, I notice a small crowd of people gathered around one of those big console TVs that were all the rage back then. The clerk was demoing a new video game system put out by Mattel (yup, the Ken and Barbie company) called Intellivision, and the game being shown was Night Stalker.

I was literally speechless. These were the coolest graphics I’d ever seen. When the group that was there before me left, I asked the clerk if I could play. When he handed me the controller I was hooked. I was already a gaming fan. My brother had been taking me to the pinball parlor on a fairly regular basis, and I had been playing Space Invaders there. I also was very interested in the Atari 2600 at the time, but Night Stalker was the first game that pushed over the edge into gaming fanaticism.

A brief aside on the controller: In this day of DualShocks and 360 controllers, the Intellivision’s controller would probably be more akin to some type torture device. On the controller’s face was a numeric pad. Each game came with an overlay, that could be slipped on top of the number pad to show action specific functions. Below that was the control disc. On either side of the controller were two action buttons (that frequently wore out and needed replacement). Just by looking at it below, it just looks uncomfortable…And it was, for faster paced games like Night Stalker. My thumbs and fingers bore many blisters during my long gaming sessions during the weekends.

Like all games back then, the premise was simple, and the story all but non-existant. Your character, known only as “the man” is trapped in a maze, and is being hunted by robots, bats, and a spider. His only defense is a yellow glowing 6-shot laser gun, and the bunker that serves as refuge in the middle of the screen.

The game was a score chase. The excitement for me was as I got better at the game, I would see different robots. Things really get interesting when you reach15,000 points, as the White Robot appears, and has a shield that takes 3 shots to disable. At 30,000 points, the Black Robots shows up with a 3 shot shield and “energy bolts” that can destroy your bunker. Then, the final robot was the Invisible Robot which shows up at 80,000 points. It packs everything the Black one has, and its invisible–obviously.

Also patrolling the maze are two bats and a spider, that cause the man to be stunned and fall over if they touch him. Usually this meant certain death if a robot was on your tail, but sometimes they were life savers. Both you and your robotic enemies can only shoot one laser shot at a time–meaning that another blast couldn’t be done until the first shot disappeared. Getting stun on a horizontal section of the maze can cause a shot to go over your head–keeping you from getting blasted.

Of all the games that I have in my collection, this and several others were always my go to titles. There was something about the low droning sound “thump” sound the game made as the robots hunted you down, and the sound the lasers made as you sent “the man” running and blasting the robots that kept me coming back to this game. It was fast paced for the time, and an absolute blast to play. In this world of Street Fighters, Killzones, Assassins Creeds, and GTAs, this game–even today–brings a big goofy grin to my face; just like it did all those years ago. And yes, I am nursing a blister on my right thumb caused by that wicked control disk.

Like all the games back then, it doesn’t wear well. However the box art (as was the case with all Intellivision games) is simply retro classic–I’d like to those washed out water color style come back to box art today. Aside from everything else, this game is where I fell in love with my favorite hobby, and it will hold a very special spot in my gaming heart simply because of that.

Capcom’s Captivate 2011 kicked off in Miami today, and while all of information hasn’t come out as of this article’s writing, what has been revealed is extremely enticing. Capcom seems to be sticking to their strengths–namely fighting (the genre they pioneered as far as I’m concerned) and action games–specifically, brawlers. Yess!!! Click the jump to check out the luscious hype.

Street Fighter x Tekken: This game is looking really good. Gameplay showcases characters some additional characters to the roster, including Ken, Abel, and Guile from the SF camp, and Bob, Murdock, and King from camp Tekken. One of the stages shown seems to be from one of Dino Crysis games showing two Alosaurus observing the fight–practically cheering as Guile and Abel go heads up with King and Murdock. It would be reasonable to assume that this game will have a slightly less serious edge than SSF 4. Then again, SSF4 does have a stage where you fight in front Hippos and Merecats…so who’s to say. Regardless, the tab based gameplay looks sick, and I can’t wait to play it. No release date as of yet. Check out Gamepro for video.

SSF 4: Arcade Edition: Speaking of StreetFighter, some details regarding the home versions of SSF4: Arcade Edition were revealed. Aside from Yun, Yan, Evil Ryu, and Oni Akuma, you’ll get the re-balances (or nerfs–depending on how you view what they did to your character of choice) to the original roster. Also, they’ve tweaked the online features too. You’ll be able to upload and send your replays to your friends, and you’ll have access to something called “Elite Channel”. As described, its a Twitter-like feature that allows you to follow top tier online players who have accumulated over 3000 battle points, and will even update you when they update new replays. [Update: Destructoid has reported Arcade Edition’s release dates. For those who have SSF4, AE will be available as DLC on June 7th on PSN and XBLA for $14.99. A retail disc of AE will drop on June 24th, and a PC version will hit later this year. For those concerned, those who have the update will still be able to play online with those who don’t. Day 1 Confirmed.]

Dragon’s Dogma: A real slick looking new IP, that seems to be set in the middle ages, where dragons are taking over. Its a 3rd person action game where you, as a human warrior take on these humongous creatures. In the gameplay trailer, an archer, swordsman, and magic user are showcased. I don’t know if you can chose to play as multiple characters, or if you get to choose a class i.e. Dragon Age. Some of the enemies you’ll encounter look like they could have been pulled from the Monster Hunter series. A giant Griffin, and a village crushing multi-headed serpent were shown. A vague release date of “Early 2012” was given, so hopefully the end of the world will hold off long enough for this title to hit the shelves. This game has two individuals of note at it’s creative helm: Hiroyuki Kobayashi, the producer of Devil May Cry 4 and Resident Evil 4, as well as Hideaki Itsuno, who directed Devil May Cry 3, and 4. Based on that pedigree, if anyone can pull the necessary gameplay elements together, its them. Gamepro has trailer video.

Dead Rising 2: Off the Record: This DLC brings Frank West into the game as the main character with the focus being, what he would have done differently had he been in Fortune City when the zombie outbreak occurred. Based on the trailer Frank will have his hands full of zombie shenanigans; including in an extreme wrestling match. For some reason, I just could never get into the Dead Rising series, but Capcom deserves props for keeping the series fresh with DLC as opposed to annual retail releases. No release date was given.

Asura’s Wrath: I have a rule when it comes to new releases: Never get too hyped over CG trailers. It could be smoke and mirrors for a crappy game. However, Asura’s Wrath’s trailers makes this a really hard rule for me to adhere to. If the actual gameplay is just a fraction as good as the trailers shown, brawler fans are going to be in for a real treat. Some of your enemies are bigger than planet Earth–and–if the trailers are to be believed, you actually fight them. I have hypefaith because, while Capcom is publishing the game, it is the mighty studio of CyberConnect2 (creators of the woefully under rated Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm series–if you haven’t played those games, you should) who did the code work. According to a GameTrailers interview with Producer Kazuhiro Tsuchiya, you play the role of Asura, a demigod who is betrayed by the pantheon of gods who protect the Earth when they take his daughter away from him, and banish him to Earth’s realm. According to Kazuhiro, gameplay and story will be the driving forces behind this brawler, and I can’t wait to get my hands on this game. Asura’s anger is an important element to the gameplay apparently. The angrier he gets, the more options are available to him to deal out violent revenge to minion and boss alike. Kinda’ like Hulk I guess…Asura smash!! No release date info on this one either.

I’ve always been a Capcom fan, but this company–more so than any other developer recently, has more games that tickle my niche brawler/fighter funnybone than any other. First was Super Streetfighter 4, Marvel vs Capcom3, and now this lineup…If Capcom can nail the gameplay elements (and it looks like they have the right folks involved to do it) they will have sure fire AAA titles for 2011-2012. If these games are top notch, I hope the west can pull itself away from the latest FPS du jour, long enough to give these games a shot. Hopefully more info will drop on these titles as E3 approaches, but until then Capcom, I’m officially on your hype-train.

Blog Image from Gamepro

Its been about 11 years since since Marvel vs Capcom 2 first debuted on Sega’s Dreamcast. Now, Capcom has dropped the next game in the Vs series of fighters. Marvel vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds attempts to take what worked in MvC 2, tweak the combat system, and wrap it up in a modified Street Fighter IV graphics engine. Did it work? Will it attract new gamers to the franchise? Will you be doomed to endure Storm, Cable, and Sentinel matches online? Hit the jump to find out.

Let me get this part out of the way first. I’ll stack my knowledge base of brawler genre mechanics against anybody. Not so with fighting games. While fighting games are my second favorite genre, I am by no means a Shoryuken.com-like thesaurus on fighting genre mechanics. My tournament experience began and ended with local Street Fighter II arcade tourneys in the early 90s; an EVO contestant I am not–so keep that in mind for this review.

First, the basics: MvC3 involves 3 on 3 2D fighting like its predecessor. While your controlled character is on screen, you can summon your two team mates for assist attacks that can extend your combos, and set up your opponent Hyper combos. Each team has a Hyper meter that holds up to 5 bars. Once filled, you can execute your character’s Hyper combo moves to deal out heavy damage to your opponent. The combat system uses light, medium, and heavy attack buttons; 2 assist buttons, and one “special move” button which is basically a launcher that sends your foe into the air for aerial combo fun.

MvC3 has a roster of 33 characters (35 if you downloaded Jill Valentine and S. Gorath), and the one thing has become crystal clear after spending a considerable amount of time with the game. That being, all of the characters, in that the entire roster of fighters feel competent. While MvC2 had a ton of what I would consider throw away characters in its 50+ roster, every character in MvC3 has a move set that makes them more than a contender in the right hands. Granted, Sentinel is still an overpowered robot beast, and forums are filled with hate for Phoenix, but for the most part, I think every character has a shot at being a match winner. As far as I’m concerned there isn’t a throw-away in the bunch.

Once I settled on a button config for my arcade stick (I went on Youtube and found one that worked best for me), I found combat to be easy to grasp. Characters like Wolverine and X-23 are combo centric, while Thor and Hulk rely on strong normals linked to hyper combos to deal damage. The system works for me, and I was able to grasp some intricacies of it quickly. No FADCs here–its all about simple, quick inputs.

Speaking of getting a grasp on the game, the Mission Mode is a great way to get an idea of what a character is capable of. Mission Mode involves taking you through some basic moves of a character and quickly ramping up to multi hit air combos. You’ll probably want to pull your hair out trying to complete the more complex combos, but my focus was on observing how certain moves affect an opponent. For example: Wolverine (one of my mains) can follow up his Drill-claw with a dive kick which causes ground bounce. You can bring in a team assist for extra damage and hyper combo set up, or re-launch the opponent for a continued aerial assault. Mission Mode is filled with little nuggets of information that is applicable in real matches.

Where MvC3 falls a little short are the online assets. While Capcom raised the bar with Spectator Mode for SSFIV, you will find no such assets here. While two people do battle, the rest are left to chat in the lobby awaiting their turn. If you’re playing a friend online, you’re unable to do a quick rematch. Yet, when doing random online games, you have the option to do an immediate rematch. Right now, the best way to play online is to jump into training mode, and set fight request to on, set the parameters, and let the game put you in a match.

If you’re new to the Vs series, or new to fighting games in general, give Marvel vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds a shot. Combat mechanics are simple, yet deep–and the game is straight up fun. The hardcore vets from MvC2 may disagree. In my opinion, this is a better game than its predecessor simply because of the viability of the entire roster. The team variety encountered online, and observed in high level tournaments is proof of that. Online isn’t as robust as it should be, but it does work. I’ve had no lag issues. Bottom line: I’m giving this game an A-. Its a title definitely worth your time and money.

Today, at a press event in Tokyo, Sony announced its next portable device–and guess what? It ain’t no phone.

The company name for the device is the NGP (Next Generation Portable). Basically, here’s what the device has under the hood–or screen as reported on Playstation.com:

5 inch OLED multi-touch front display
Multitouch pad on the rear
Dual analog sticks
2 cameras (front/rear)
Motion sensitivity: 3 sensors, gyroscope, accelerometer, electronic compass
Wi-Fi, BlueTooth, and 3G network connectivity
PSN, LiveArea, Near, Activity (social gaming functions), Trophy Support

The system will not be UMD based. Instead games will ship on dedicated flash cards. You’ll also be able to play all your PSP titles (downloadable ones), minis, PS1 Classics, digital comics, and video content from PSN.

Games for NGP either shown or discussed at the presser:

Killzone
Uncharted
WipeOut
LittleBigPlanet
Call of Duty
Resistance
Hot Shots Golf
Reality Fighters
Gravity Daze
Hustle Kings

There is a more complete official writeup including full list of games shown/discussed as well as tech specs on Playstation.com. I also found a GameSpot YouTube video showing Uncharted running on NGP. I’m sure its an early build, but sure did look a hell of a lot like Uncharted 2 on PS3 graphically. From the features and specs, this may very well be a “pocket PS3”.

No info was given on price, battery life, or an exact release date. You can bet that this will be shown prominently at E3 this year (if not sooner).

My Sony fanboy-ism is pretty known on this site, but I do have a concern. That being, I don’t necessarily want to play portable versions of games that I already have on PS3. The appealing thing about Nintendo’s portable systems has been that there are a lot of gaming experiences that you can only get on DS. It would be nice if at least some of these familiar franchise names presented the NGP player with truly differing gaming experiences than you get from their home console counterparts. I’m not saying turn Uncharted into a 1st person shooter, but I hope that with some creativity and finesse developers will be able to make me WANT to buy Killzone or Uncharted for the PS3, AND for the NGP as well.

That being said, I think the tech is hot, and it looks geek sexy. I don’t have much use for a portable system, but yeah–I’m getting one.

Mankind has devastated itself in a nuclear holocaust. The large cities, and rural communities that once dotted the globe have been reduced to burnt husk ruins. Seas have evaporated, and cruel desert climates now cover most of the earth.

Though pushed to edge of self extinction, mankind has begun to reclaim the earth; struggling to find sources of food and water, and re-establish civilization. Out of the chaos, masters of secret and incredibly powerful martial arts –unknown to society before the war– have come to the forefront in this post-apocalyptic world. Some oppress the weak and force their demented will on others; while other masters use their power to help and defend their fellow human beings. This is the world Kenshiro – sole heir and master of the power martial art Hokuto Shinken finds himself; as he struggles against impossible odds to defend the oppressed, and those he loves in Koei’s brawler Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage.

In general, I’m not typically a fan of Koei’s versions of the brawler genre–which, in the light of the global appeal of the Dynasty Warriors series–has become a sub genre in its own right. I wasn’t expecting too much when I bought the game, but I love the Fist of the North Star license (anime and manga) and decided to take a chance. In short, I was–surprised with the title. To find out if its worth your time and money, click the jump.

For those who may not be familiar, a Koei brawler typically consists of the following elements: 1 overpowered player controlled character, accompanied by an army of useless computer controlled troops, going against an army of equally useless enemy forces, with a handful of overpowered bosses sprinkled around the battlefield for good measure. This is the basic formula for Dynasty Warriors / Devil Kings titles. Personally, I find the combat too simple and uninspired. The enemy AI is all but non-existent, and boss battles can be frustrating due to poor camera controls.

Koei addresses most of these issues in Ken’s Rage. It’s probably due to the fact that Koei merged with Tecmo back in 2009. While this game by no means a Ninja Gaiden, it is a substantial improvement in Koei’s traditional brawler formula. Enemies have slightly better AI, and will attempt to surround and overwhelm you. Enemies that attack with ranged weapons will often try to keep you at a distance. Sub-bosses require you to vary your combos, and boss enemies can be quite challenging.

Combat is still simple. Your combo tree doesn’t change at all during the game. You pretty much have access to all your offensive and defensive moves from the beginning. But as you power up your character via the Maridian Chart (I’ll get to that latter) those same combos become more powerful by adding additional moves, or increased Hokuto Shinken affects. For example: square, square, triangle is Kenshiro’s basic crowd control move. As you power up, a groin kick, and a more powerful Hokuto Shinken energy wave erupts killing lesser enemies, and putting stronger ones in a stunned state.

Battle points are earned on the battlefield. As you defeat enemies, you pick up points in the form of karma orbs. You have opportunities to earn bonus points by completing small sub-campaigns. It could be defending villagers caught on the battlefield, or preventing enemy forces from advancing to a certain way-point. Upon completing a mission, you have the opportunity to spend those points on the Maridian Chart. Basically, you can unlock passive and active abilities by linking them to your Harmonic Center. The more points you have, the more abilities you can link, thereby increasing your power. Everything from your health and spirit bar, to your boss destroying Aura Attacks are unlocked via Maridian.

Speaking of Aura Attacks, these are the game’s crowd killing and boss weakening attacks. Max out and activate you spirit gauge and press circle, and your character will devastate everything onscreen. Certain bosses are weaker against certain Aura Attacks than others. You notice this by seeing a pattern of seven stars that sometimes appears over a stunned boss. If you’ve unlocked that corresponding AA, you can really make quick work of a boss.

Playable characters are divided into three camps: Hokuto, Nanto, and Warrior. Characters like the main Kenshiro, use Hokuto, which focuses on setting your opponent up for strong devastating attacks. Nanto characters like Rei us Nanto which depend on timed quick attacks. Warriors like Mamiya depend on ranged weapons like bows and crossbows. While the difference in gameplay isn’t as varied as it sounds, I do appreciate some of the subtle differences. For example, when using Rei, timed strikes in the form of QTEs appear mid-combo. There is no penalty for missing it really, but in latter missions when enemies surround you more robustly, those QTEs are crucial for crowd control.

As you play through the story in Legend mode, you unlock characters to play in Dream mode (also where 2 player couch co-op is accessed), enemies and allies alike. In dream mode, you can play through certain levels and events not necessarily experienced by the main character. Its a cool feature and really adds to the re-playability of the game.

On the downside of things, graphics are a bit of a mixed bag. While main characters, enemies, NPC allies, and bosses are nicely rendered, the environment is bland. If it weren’t for the on screen battle map, it would be difficult to determine if you were headed in the right direction, as color palettes, and environmental objects repeat a lot. The camera is still a bit of an issue; especially when fighting in a confined space like a room or an alley–though not nearly as bad as Koei’s previous Dynasty Warriors efforts.

The one thing that can be a little frustrating is finishing off a boss. Once a boss’ energy is depleted, you have to finish him off with an Ultimate Aura Attack, by inputting the button strings that appear onscreen. That in and of itself isn’t so bad, but–the stronger the boss, the longer the UAE button string. Goof on the input, and the boss gains a certain amount of energy back, and you have to beat him down AGAIN. Some of those boss battles are tough, and there’s nothing worse than getting killed because you messed up on some Simon inspired QTE.

Another thing thats not so hot is the music soundtrack. It sounds like some ‘90s heavy metal guitar riff, and there’s only 2 or three songs that re-play to the point of noxiousness.

Bottom line: I’m giving this game a B+. If you are not a fan of traditional Koei brawlers like me, you’ll love the Tecmo inspired improvements to the combat (I hope Koei sticks to this improved formula for Dynasty Warriors 7). A good friend of mine who is also a rabid fan of the Dynasty Warriors series really liked the brawler tweaks made in this game, so this game should also sit well with Koei purists. If you’re unfamiliar with the Fist of the North Star license, but enjoy 3rd person brawlers give this game try. There’s just something satisfying about beating up a bunch of thugs to the point that their bodies explode.

Oh yeah–speaking of that, this one definitely not one for the kiddies. Enemies contort as they fill with Hokuto and Nanto aura energies as you attack until they explode like flesh balloons filled with red food coloring. Sometimes you can knock someone inside out, which is really fun. Its not as gross as it sounds, but it is rated M for a reason. Give the game a shot. You’ll be pleasantly surprised.

The sequel as a concept is a genius creation of the free market system. The formula is simple: Capitalize on the success of an original IP by basically re-boxing, re-marketing, and regurgitating what brought the success in the first place–with a few additions to keep fans happy. Then, kick back and watch the coffers grow with additional sales. This recipe has worked for every popular media known to man–and is especially utilized in videogames.

Its understandable–give people more of what they liked the first time around, update the engine with some graphical polishes, add a new gameplay mechanic or two, then heat and serve. We all go back to those familiar watering holes when the sequel springs refill. But, are we as gamers getting short changed with our sequels? I say yes, but for different reasons…

There is nothing inherently wrong with a sequel. When I get into something I like, I want more of it. However, I’ve been feeling a bit short-changed when it comes to my gaming sequels lately. First one that comes to mind off the bat, is Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2. Before that–although I hate to admit it–I got let down with Ninja Gaiden 2 (even though I gushed over the game). Both games shared the same check list of positives and negatives. Both are substantial graphical upgrades from their originals. Both had streamlined the functionality of gameplay mechanics. Both also, were overall poorer efforts than their originals; including at least one level that was dayum near broken. The other similarity these games have in common, is that both titles had their launches tarnished with announcements of layoffs and/or lawsuits from the companies that created those games.

We as gamers sometimes view the people who bring us our gaming content through rose-rimmed glasses. We sometimes forget–as we manipulate those HD polygons of goodness around on our high-def televisions–that our favorite games require large groups of uber-creative people to program; not just one charismatic spokesman. Behind every Blizinski, Levine, or Itagaki, there are legions of creative souls bringing their gaming visions to fruition. Plus, like all us human beings–they come with an airline carousel’s worth of emotional baggage.

Dare I say it; but something tells me that if we all heard from our bosses halfway through a project that we’d all be unexpectedly let go upon completion, we wouldn’t be putting our all into our work. Our minds would be cluttered with a myriad of issues: How is next month’s mortgage and car note going to be met? Who’s hiring? Am I going to have to relocate AGAIN?! I’ll not even bring in the variables involved if you have to make these decisions with a family to consider.

Suppose you feel that you have no choice but to sue your employer for monies due? Yet, you’re still under contract to complete a project? This is a rough economy; jobs ain’t exactly falling from the sky. These are heavy emotional tolls for anyone. Regardless of how much pride you take in your work, your performance is going to suffer. As stresses regarding work compound with the issues at home, the importance of your work is going to fall further and further down in levels of importance. I believe thats human nature.

When LucasArts announced layoffs, it didn’t just include the people in the developer diary videos. Approximately 85 people found themselves out of a job, and in my opinion, this was reflected in the lesser quality of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2. Melee combat is ridiculously simple. The environments weren’t as rich and varied as the original. The sky city boss fight was so broken, they slapped a band-aid on it by dialing down the damage dealt by the boss to make up for it, instead of re-working the level properly. Obviously, these people were working for some time with that job loss guillotine over their heads before the media heard about it, and the results are a game that feels completely “phoned in” almost from beginning to end.

Itagaki’s problems with Tecmo/Team Ninja have been well documented; primarily by the man himself in his interviews and statements to the press. As Ninja Gaiden 2 released, Itagaki made his dissatisfaction with his former employer well known. As with all games though, Team Ninja’s issues were beyond just the creative lead. Dozens of experienced staff left Team Ninja not too far behind Itagaki’s departure. I ask you this question–as a forever diehard Itagaki and Ninja Gaiden fan–was Itagaki and crew more concerned with making Ninja Gaiden 2 as good as possible, or were they more concerned with getting the game done, and getting the hell out from under Tecmo/Team Ninja? The proof is in the pudding folks. NG2 has great combat, but has a more problematic camera than NG Black’s ever was. On top of that, the jungle cave level and boss battle was so poorly designed and unplayable, its probably why Team Ninja simply cut it completely from the PS3 port of the game, NG Sigma 2.

So, who do you blame? Personally, I can’t fault the coders. We put them on a creative pedestal for their talents. Maybe we naively believe that come hell or high water, their first and foremost concern is us–the gamer. Wrong! Truth is, they’re human like the rest of us.

Do we blame the game companies? Well, maybe. Telling a group of people they’re going to get the axe when a project is done isn’t exactly the way build workplace morale. Neither–from the business’ end–is knowing that your key creative folks are levying a lawsuit, and are more than blatant in expressing their hate for working for you to any media outlet who’ll lend an ear. It probably adds a layer of tension thick enough to fill a McRib’s sauce bucket at the water cooler and staff meetings. Such is life in this free market driven, corporate run capitalistic business environment we all love and despise simultaneously–Glen Beck not withstanding.

The ones who “suffer” aside from the employees who find themselves without income, are gamers like us who get saddled with poorer versions of games we initially loved. While I freely admit to the possibly being wrong in my non-industry insider opinions expressed here, I don’t think I am. As I draw this too long article to a close, another game I was looking forward to–Splatterhouse (TurboGrafix-16/MegaDrive classic remake), will launch tomorrow amidst the announcement of 90 employees being laid off from the US branch of Namco Bandai. It was the US arm of the company that was responsible for coding Splatterhouse, and was going to have a significant role in Tekken X Streetfighter development if I remember correctly.

Maybe, before we buy sequels, we may have to check the company’s financial health on E*Trade.

Image from encefalus.com

There is evil afoot. The sound of the werewolves is even more chilling than the cold rain. You stand firm. Your steely resolve is only matched by your skills with with the Combat Cross. As the creatures of the night begin to attack on you, and the handful of brave villagers who dare to make a stand, you are warmed by your thirst for revenge. That, and the hope of reuniting with your murdered love, Marie.

This is Caltlevania: Lords of Shadow, Konami’s 3rd person 3D reboot to their much beloved traditionally 2D action series. So, is it worthy of wearing the Castlevania name? Click the jump to find out.

The first thing you’ll notice about the game soon after loading, are the graphics and sound. This is one of the most gorgeous 3rd person action games out there–in some parts surpassing even God of War 3. The world of this game is rich and varied. You’ll journey from rain drenched villages to snow capped fortresses. The level of work Konami put into this game’s visuals is astounding.

Gorgeous eye candy alone does not a good game make, however. If it doesn’t have gameplay to match, its like dating a supermodel with chronic halitosis. Fortunately, C:LoS delivers in this department as well. Control is tight and on point. If you’ve played God of War, you’ll be at home with the combat system. As with most brawlers nowadays, the elementary combos will get you from beginning to end (at least on default level). Dig a little deeper though and you’ll find a pretty deep combat skill tree that is worth investigating.

Along with your Combat Cross, you have sub weapons, magic and relics. Castlevania vets will recognize the throwing dagger and holy water, but Konami threw in new ones like fairies and ground clearing summoning crystals. Relics–which are acquired by defeating certain bosses–have abilities that Gabriel will need to complete his quest. All of the above can be combined with light and shadow magic, augmenting the abilities of everything at Gabriel’s disposal. Most are benefits in combat, and some are needed to solve quest specific puzzles. Get familiar with the combat skill tree, and you’ll be laying waste to the forces of evil in grand style.

A lot of griping has been done about this game’s camera. While I don’t think its nearly as bad as some have made it out to be, there are some minor issues. First, the camera is stationary, and I believe I understand why the developers chose to set it this way. The developers went out of their own way to show you the gorgeous environment from unique points of view–especially during the platforming segments. The game presents gorgeous vistas, detailed mountain crevices, and ridiculously huge castles from perspectives that the player would never see if the camera were under player control. Unfortunately, at times, it can cause disorientation with regard to where you’re supposed to go; especially if you’re behind a bush or a rock when the scene changes. Its not a major issue, but it can be a bit of an annoyance.

A lot has also been said about how this game borrows heavily from God of War and Shadow of the Colossus. Battling the Titans (humongous stone or bone animated magical structures) is almost a direct homage to Colossus–down to holding R2 to maintain Gabriel’s grip as he scales them to attack the magic runes that give the Titans their power.

Gabriel’s actual melee skills are actually quite different’ from Kratos’. While God of War has light and heavy attacks that do damage single enemies and crowds equally (with the exception of certain combos with the chains) the Combat Cross has separate direct and area attacks. Square will attack the enemy you’re facing, while triangle sends the iron whip in a 360 area affect attack for crowd control. While the two can be combined in combos, there are specific moves that are geared to damaging a single enemy, or handling a crowd of foes. Granted, I’m a brawler fanboy, so some may say I’m splitting hairs with regard to the combat comparisons–but I stand by my point.

To bottom line the game: Buy it. This game is a serious contender for my personal game of the year. Graphics, control, and sound are top notch. While Gabriel is the “strong silent type” he’s voice acted quite well, making the character very personable. Round out the roster with voice work of Patrick Stewart as the story narrator and a major character, and you’ve got one heck of a good game. Yes, there are some minor quibbles with the camera, but this is an S-Rank brawler, worthy of being in your library. If you’ve got the option, go for the Playstation 3 version. PS3 was the lead skew for development, and there are video comparisons showing the 360 version of the game chugs a bit when multiple enemies are on screen, and–it’s on multiple discs on Xbox. Even if you only have the 360, I’d say it’s worth your while. Especially with some of the deals on this game–you’ve got no excuse. This one’s a keeper.

ShoNuff Grade: A

So, I’m listening to some songs in my library, and I pick through Prince’s Graffiti Bridge album. One of the songs is, titled, “Joy in Repetition.” While listening, it hit me: I’ve been hearing and reading variations of that statement A LOT from professional game reviewers, and even a few community podcasts–except, its used as a critiquing anchor for pointing out weaknesses in a video game. That is, unless you’ve been listening to a lot of the professional game reviewers in their written works or podcasts. The trend seems to be that when a reviewer doesn’t like the genre of game they are reviewing, but for whatever reason choose not to state that, pro reviewers toss out a lot of statements like, “…its a good game, but it is so repetitive.” Well, in my unimportant opinion, its a cop-out to giving a game a mediocre or poor review, simply because the reviewer isn’t a fan of the genre of game being reviewed, and probably shouldn’t be reviewing that game in the first place.

Basically, I’m saying this: There has never been a game that hasn’t been repetitious. Whether you’re talking about Pong, Donkey Kong, or Dragon Age: Origins, every game that has ever been released, or will be released, involves doing either the same action, or a group of actions over and over again. Its the nature of the beast. If you don’t like arcade racers, you probably have no business reviewing a Burnout game. If all you play is first-person-shooters, why would you be chosen to do a review of StarCraft II? Case in point: I’m a huge 3rd person brawler fan. Its one of my favorite genres. If I’m reviewing Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, I know that the core element of the game is going to be melee combat. Any critique of gameplay shortcomings (and believe me, there aren’t very many in this gaming gem) are going to revolve around my impressions of that core gameplay. As a fan of the genre, I can call on gameplay mechanics that make a brawler excellent in my opinion, and explain why, or why not the game stacks up to what I need in an S-Rank brawler. Now, if I mostly play RTS and sports games, how can I give Castlevania a review that holds any merit?

This reminds me of the reviews of Ninja Gaiden 2 when it first released. There were some so called professional game reviewers, who docked the game–again–due to the repetitious nature of the combat. Excuse me? To a fan of the genre that comment makes no sense. Lets overstep the obvious fact that the Ninja Gaiden series is thumb breaking hard. Where’s the mention that the game forces you to master whatever weapon you’re using? Where is the mention that there are a number enemies that are weaker against some weapons, and have greater resistance to others, which can add another layer of challenge? In those reviews that docked the game in such broad “repetitive” based terms, there was no mention of those points. What are they expecting? Did they want the combat to suddenly become turn based? Were they expecting Ryu to pick up a gun and have the game become a 3rd or 1st person shooter? Was he supposed to grab a Dragon Ninja issued basketball and start 360 degree dunking on the Black Spider Clan? Other games have fallen under the same lazy method of reviewing. BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, Castlevania: LoS, and just about every game in Koei’s catalogue come to mind right off the top of my head, but there is a slew of other games that escape my Heineken infused brain at the moment that have been dinged as being repetitive.

I think the core of the problem is that a lot of these professional review sites and magazines have people reviewing games that they have no business reviewing certain games, because they aren’t fans of a particular genre. When you see “I just like good games” in a reviewer’s bio section under genres of choice, you can only push that concept so far. Obviously a game like Halo, Madden, or even God of War is going to have considerable “mass market” appeal, that will attract a certain number of fans who typically aren’t a fan of that genre. The reality is, most games aren’t going to have that type of mass media hype behind it–thus, no across the board mass appeal. Most games are going to be judged on what they bring to a particular genre–or, in that rare instance–how it revolutionizes a genre, but gameplay repetition will always be a part of that. I just received my copy of Koei’s Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage from Amazon. It’s a 3rd person, modified Koei style brawler. Guess what I’ll be doing from beginning to end? I’ll be running through large maps, beating up oodles of lesser enemies until I come to the end level boss. From level one to the final level, I’ll be doing the same thing. Rinse, and repeat–just like any other video game ever made. Guess what? It’s not going to turn into a FPS where I start running around shooting people in the head. Nor will it turn into a tower defense, where I have to distribute resources to build up defenses. No doubt, this game will be reviewed by non genre fans who will discourage people from playing this game because it’s repetitive, and they don’t understand, nor care about the gameplay mechanics of this Koei style game.

Obviously, there are going to be staff limitations on professional and community sites. Chances are, most gaming industry magazines/sites/podcasts don’t have a game reviewer to represent every gaming genre. Certainly, if you as a gamer use reviews as part of deciding on which games to purchase, you’ll want to look for reviewers with as similar tastes in games as yourself, and judge their review on a given game through that filter. I just think that–given the sway some of these industry insiders have–they should be upfront and let you know that they aren’t a fan of a particular genre, so you can take the review for what its worth. I know a lot do their reviews like that, but I just wish more would follow suit.

Yet more gaming goodness from the KMartgamer. Here’s whats on tap for the end of October:

From now through Saturday, October 30th, the following games will be discounted to $39.99:

Castlevania: LoS
Medal of Honor
Enslaved: Odyssey to the West

Beginning October 31st and running through November 6th, Vanquish can be had for $34.99

Some S-Rank titles for not a whole lot of cash. Sounds like a good idea to me. By the way, if you haven’t played Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, and you at least have some interest in the brawler genre, buy this game. It’s almost as good as God of War3 overall.

Its been rumored for a while (almost as long as the PSP 2, from what I understand), but Endgadget has shots of what they’re saying is Sony’s Playstation Phone prototype. Here’s the specs:

Android 3.0 OS
Touch screen
512 Megs of RAM, 1GB ROM
Screen to be 3.7 to 4.1 inches
Games accessed through digital download via a Sony Marketplace specifically for the phone
Micro SD card support

I have some questions, though. Instead of releasing that overpriced marketing disaster known as the PSP Go, why not wait ’till this was ready? Especially when the PSP-3000 was to continue in production. I mean–its obvious this is a PSP Go with phone functions; did Sony think they had to do a marketing proof of concept with the PSP Go? Why waste the money? I’m a Sony fanboy to the core, but I don’t understand their business decisions a lot of the time.

I’ll pass on this one. I switched to iMac for my computer needs earlier this year, so I’ve got an iPhone4 in my future. ‘Droid fans might want to look into this when more info is available.

Image from Endgadget.com

Its better late than never. Next week, On October 19th, Playstation3 owners will be able to access their NetFlix instant watch queues sans disc. GameStooge.com had the video demo of the upcoming app posted on Playstationblog.com.

The app is pretty slick in appearance. You can make adjustments to your queue through the app, and according to narrator, the app is based on PS3 code, so you can use the app with your DualShock. For those like me who use the PS3 as the primary media source, its good to see.

Image from geeksugar.com