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Mar

5 Reasons My Console Is Better Than Yours

Categories: Article, Humor Post and Rant
Tags: consoles, fanboys, Rant

Contributed by Edward Price

As a gamer, I like to buy and play videogames, and then tell other people my views on the games I play. However, videogames are a serious business, and I feel a need to attach myself to and champion a particular videogame console that not only does not reciprocate the love which I give it, but is made by a company who not only do not care what I think, but would probably look at me with distain if they did!

You don’t think I’m right? Then sit back and watch as I prove to you why my choice of Videogame Console is clearly superior to yours.

Soon you'll realise I am like a King, and that you all shall bow!

1. My Console Has Features That Yours Doesn’t

You see this thing that my console does? Yeah, your console is incapable of doing that. That automatically makes my console better than yours. Oh, so your console is bringing out their own version of that feature? Well, yours is a bad knock-off, and it’ll never be as good as the original! Oh, what’s that? My console’s bringing out its own version of your feature, well, because the feature is newer, it can improve on your one and make it better! My logic is infallible, and you can’t win!

Anyone who doesn’t understand this joke needs to go to http://www.scene-stealers.com/blogs/james-camerons-avatar-disneys-pocahontas/

2. Exclusives & Forthcoming Games

My console has better exclusives than yours! Allow me to list all the games that are coming to my console and not yours! I won’t even buy half of these games I mention, but I’ll use them as examples to prove that my console choice, and by extension, myself, are better than you. Even if some of those games aren’t very good, I’ll claim that the reviewers are all biased against the console (even if their review is positive), that their writing is bad, and that they should be fired and their review replaced by someone who actually knows what they’re talking about… Me! And then I still won’t play them.

"This game... Is totally proof... that I'm better than you... Okay, where's my money?"

3. The Game Is Superior On My Console

So that upcoming game that looks really good is multiplatform, but that fact is irrelevant! You know why? Because that game is going to be better on my console, not yours! My console will have the better graphics/sound/gameplay/controls/online mode/a feature my console has that yours doesn’t/mine does better, while your console’s version will be ruined by inferior graphics/online/loading times/multiple discs/mandatory installs/the fact your console doesn’t have a feature mine does/does as well! That’s why when a game comes out that’s the same on every console; I still win for having the better version!

See? The graphics on my version are way superior...

4. Inaccurate (Possibly Made Up)/Irrelevant Statement About Your Console:

And another thing! My console is so much better than yours because not only does it have features yours doesn’t, the better exclusives, and any multiplatform games will be better on mine, but (and yes, there is more!) you also need to contend with something else. That is the following thing I’m about to point out about your console, that will either be incredibly irrelevant to the argument thus far, will be completely untrue, or will have been said so many times before that you can probably see it coming from a mile away. This last one will be like a Reality or Talent TV show, in that it’s inevitable, and yet you’re more likely to score with a supermodel than stop it.

These red lights are in no way relevant to what I am saying right now... Or Are They?

Primarily, I’ll end up using this as a “…and furthermore!” argument, in that despite it having no actual relevance to the rest of the debate, I’ll still use this ad verbatim because I believe this actually matters.

5. Grossly Inaccurate Personal Insult

If you’ve seriously not been bought round to my way of thinking, and you somehow haven’t realised that my logic is that of a God, and made a shrine in my honour, yet, then you know what? I don’t care what you think, and to show how much your comments haven’t affected me, I’m going to post some grossly inaccurate assumptions about the way you live your life! You disagree with me? Ironically, I’ll end up using insults and descriptions of gamers that I’ve criticised the media for using, such as your possible living arrangements (with your parents), your weight, social standing, appearance, your ability to spell or use the English language, and whether or not you have a life.

(Because apparently having a life doesn't simply mean being alive or dead, anymore)

You know why I’m going to do that? Because I’m right, no matter what, and since my previous arguments somehow haven’t swayed you, then my only course of action that remains is to baselessly insult you, because nothing makes you realise you’re wrong like a complete stranger on the internet trying to persuade you insulting you!

Now it should be incredibly clear to see that I am completely correct, and that my choice of console is clearly better than yours. You’re allowed to praise me, and worship me as your new God. You know why? Because by devoting myself to just one console, and insulting anyone who dares question me, I not only like to prove how I’m right and you’re not, I then uphold the same image of gamers that most people are trying to shake from our industry; the obsessive, annoying fan boy.

…

Okay, screw it; I’ll buy the other consoles too.

Feb

The Telltale Question

By plusxp 1 Comment

Categories: Article and General Gaming
Tags: full throttle, grim fandango, leisure suit larry, monkey island, point n click, sam and max, telltale games, the dig

Telltale Games are one of my favourite developers this generation, providing Point-and-Click lovers like me with a chance to relive one of the greatest genres of gaming of the 90’s. I may have started off gaming with Nintendo, but the thing that started off my love for PC Gaming was undeniably the Monkey Island series, as my dad had both the first games on CD, as well as some of the old Sierra ‘Quest’ games on floppy disks. Regardless, Monkey Island was one of the first games I truly fell in love with, and shaped my sense of humour and taste in games for years to come, and today, the Monkey Island series stands as one of my all time favourite series of games.

When I was younger, I also used to watch a lot of cartoons with strange humour (most likely bought on by Monkey Island and the ‘Quest’ games), but there was one cartoon I loved in my youth, but never saw again for years, the Sam and Max: Freelance Police cartoons. Now, a couple years ago, I had a Point and Click revival, wherein I became massively addicted to point and click games again, replayed all the Monkey Islands, sought out Day of the Tentacle and Sam and Max Hit The Road, and have also, in recent times, played through Full Throttle (fun, but short), Grim Fandango (fun, but incredibly difficult to play on a post-windows’98 computer), Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, and The Dig (which I very recently bought and completed). Now, this is probably all sounding quite irrelevant right now, but this is where Telltale games come in.

Telltale Games: Holy light and halo sadly not included... yet...

A few years ago, they bought the license to Sam and Max, and to date, have released 2 seasons of episodic games for the rabbit and dog duo, reviving the point and click genre almost single-handedly. Since then, they’ve also given the episodic gaming treatment to Wallace and Gromit and the cult internet icon Strong Bad.

Then, in one of my all time favourite things about 2009; Telltale games made Tales of Monkey Island, an episodic adventure bringing back one of my all time favourite series of games. I was ecstatic, and I wasn’t disappointed, either. For this, Telltale stand as one of my all time favourite developers.

As well as this, Telltale care a lot about their fans, offering free episodes to customers, often putting their series on sale, talking to their fans in the forums, and actually taking on board and reacting to fan feedback. Now, this is where everything I’ve talked about starts to, in some way, come together. Telltale, in their most recent newsletter to their fans, offered a coupon for 15% off a series of their games, if I answered a questionnaire, which would give them feedback to their games so far, but would ask several questions about their upcoming series of Sam and Max, which promises to be their most ambitious series yet, with another storyline spanning all episodes, monsters and foes across time and space, psychic powers (which alone instantly attracts me to your game, so you know), and more of the humour we’ve come to love. After questions gauging my interest on what they plan to bring to the new series, a couple of questions afterwards piqued my interest, so much so, that they shall now appear below:

“21. If Telltale were to develop new games based on an existing series, which below would be of greatest interest to you? (Select top 3)

Sierra Quest series (Kings Quest, Space Quest, Police Quest)
Gabriel Knight
Other LucasArts adventure series (beyond Monkey Island, Sam & Max)
Leisure Suit Larry
Myst
Infocom series (e.g. Zork, Planetfall)
Broken Sword series

22. If Telltale were to develop new games based on another previous LucasArts game (beyond Monkey Island, Sam & Max), which below would be of greatest interest to you?

Maniac Mansion
Day of the Tentacle
Full Throttle
Grim Fandango
The Dig
Zak McKracken
Loom”

If these questions are anything to go by, then in future, Telltale games may try and make some more games based on previous, unused franchises by Sierra and Lucasarts.

However, if they did, which ones would be best for the company to revive (and not in the “HD Remake” way, sorry)?

Because I unfortunately do not know anything about Myst, Maniac Mansion, the Infocom series, Zak McKracken, or Gabriel Knight, and I’ve barely played LOOM, so I can’t completely endorse their revival, sorry about that.

Full Throttle and the Dig had pretty concrete endings, that wouldn’t do so well to open up to a sequel. As good games as they were, I feel the impact of the stories would be lost a bit if they were continued. However, a prequel for either could be great ideas; learn more, or even experience the downfall of the alien society before you visit it for real in The Dig? Learn more about the rise of the main character of Full Throttle into the leader of the gang, before the real story starts? The worlds are open to explored more, but the stories of their characters reached a good ending, so unless the games were another part of the world, or before the games they’d be reviving, I don’t see much point in them being revived.

“What is it?” “Some Kid on the internet thinks we shouldn’t get a sequel” “...What’s the internet?”

The Quest series would be a more interesting one to take on, seeing as there were many different ‘Quests’, so anything between King’s, Space and Police could be invoked, and they could do practically anything with the stories, as far as I’m aware. It’d be interesting, but I always thought those series were famed for their extreme difficulty, as well as their humour, and they would most likely be too difficult for some modern gamers (myself included), and changing the difficulty drastically would probably annoy the original fans too much.

Leisure Suit Larry would be a weird one for them to tackle, as well. Leisure Suit Larry, while it was a very funny game, is one that is quite adult (the objective of the games are to get laid, basically), and in recent years has suffered a massive downfall (Box Office Bust? More like its title than it thought). While Telltale could no doubt bring it back to its former glory, the series is probably just a bit too adult, and would be difficult to encourage more people to play, especially considering its adult nature and recent failures, and of course, any fans of the series will get very annoyed if it’s made a lot less explicit.

Larry, you’re guilty of making it harder than it should be to find a picture from any of your games that don’t include scantily clad women.

Day of the Tentacle is going to be a hard one to justify, seeing as the ending to that one is also a sign that everything’s going to be okay. But, there’s nothing to say that it won’t be okay, and remember, in a game which employed time travel, there were only two different time periods unlocked, and not nearly any of the cliché time travel locations we’d normally see. Sam and Max, while exploring Time Travel in “Chariots of the Dogs” may impact this one a little, but as with the Day of the Tentacle characters, there’s so many different ways and places that the characters could fit into that’d work out brilliantly. All they have to do is find a way to justify travelling through several locations in time, and with the same characters as Day of the Tentacle, how hard can that be?

This now leaves us with Grim Fandango and the Broken Sword series. And you know what? If Telltale can get them, they’d be fantastically silly not to take advantage of them. Both games would be absolutely perfect for Telltale. Grim Fandango has one of the best worlds in a Lucasarts game (Monkey Island takes the crown), with some of the best characters, and despite its concrete ending, it’s still a game that would work with a sequel, and is the most deserving of a sequel and a revival than any Lucasarts game listed in that question. Broken Sword 1 and 2 were fantastic games, with amazing characters and great puzzles (the less said about 3, the better, and I’ve yet to find a copy of Angel of Death anywhere). They’d also be very easy for Telltale to write new adventures and stories for, and if anything, the episodic structure would be almost perfect for the series (as it would Grim Fandango, which was split into distinctive parts anyway).

I’m here to collect some Broken Sword characters who were killed during that last paragraph?

So my appeal to Telltale games is this: If you’re able to get the rights to Broken Sword and Grim Fandango, and make an episode series for them, please, please do it. Both series would be playing to your strengths, and they’re the two series that you’d make the most out of, and do the most justice to.
And if you don’t? More Sam and Max & Monkey Island is just fine

-Edward.

What do you think? Which series do you think Telltale (or any other company) should revive, and how?

Jan

5 Upcoming Movies of Games That Are Bound To Fail

By plusxp 6 Comments

Categories: Article, Humor Post and Rant
Tags: game movie, metal gear solid, pac-man, the sims

Contributed by Edward Price

On the record, most movie adaptations of video games end up failing embarrassingly. They’re critically slated, or are hated by fans of the game who’ve been betrayed by a company that doesn’t want to adhere too much to the source material, but like seemingly every business ever, just want to make a lot of money. Here are some upcoming movies of games, in no particular order, which are probably doomed to fail. Interestingly, between the time I originally wrote this article, and now, I also managed to get my hands on some of the scripts, and so I’ll be providing you with some choice segments of said scripts.

The Sims

The Sims doesn’t need much introduction. It’s a life simulator game by Will Wright, in which you guide around Sims and make them live the life you’re not living because you’re sitting at a computer looking after little virtual people more than yourself. Until you get bored and remove the stairs to the swimming pool.

The Sims Movie is in pre-production, and from the information I can gather, it’s a Live Action Drama Film.

What They Should Do:

Firstly, making a “Drama” film out of a game where your biggest drama is running to the toilet before pissing yourself is probably ill-thought. There are two prevailing ideas at work. One is what they could do, and one is what they should do.

What they could do, if they’re truly serious about making it a “Drama”, is take a leaf out of “The Truman Show”. And by a leaf, I mean, pretty much rip off “The Truman Show”. They could however, use it to a very interesting angle, and use it as a harrowing insight into the minds and lives of people who are at the mercy of a benevolent power they don’t know or understand. People forced to cheat, lie, and kill against their will. People whose lives fall apart because of an evil entity who’ll never care for them. Maybe it’d win a bunch of Oscars or something.

Alternatively, my friend Nathan says on this subject:

“Maybe turning the Sims into a completely different concept, like an interactive movie where each of the people in the audience is assigned a character, and they can do whatever they want with it, like those choose-your-own-adventure books, and your choices determine the outcome, and finally, determines the ending”

Give him a £1 million instead.

How It’s Probably Going To Turn Out:

I honestly don’t know. If they’re serious about making it a Drama film, I honestly don’t know how or why they’d ever make it, unless it was pretty much just the Truman show.

Script Extract:

Simone runs towards the toilet in a panic, sweat dripping off her face. As she reaches the bathroom, the suspenseful music begins to play. The music gets louder as she locks the door and makes her way towards the toilet. She begins to sit down, and the toilet suddenly disappears underneath her. The music reaches crescendo as she begins to cry in embarrassment as she wets herself all over the bathroom floor.

Cut to Simette and Simba are swimming in their new swimming pool.

Simba (In Simlish, English Subtitles Provided): Well, I feel the oddly compulsive need to eat. What do you say we have a barbeque?

Simette: Si-si-simba…

Simba: Yes?

Simette (Screaming): The stairs to the pool are gone!

They both scream in horror as the music swells.

Simba: Wait, we should only have several hours to live! That’ll be fine unless…

The Barbeque sets the house on fire.

If It Was Anything Like The Source Material:

Like Big Brother, but people die.

Pac Man

Seriously. A Pac Man movie. Again, the only information about this I could get is that it’s combining Live Action and Special Effects.

Guys, everyone knows what Pac Man is. This isn’t like most other movies of games, where those blissfully unaware of the source material won’t know better. Anyone who thinks making a Pac Man movie Live Action is a good idea is probably an evil genius who is hell bent on destroying the world of videogames with crappy movies.

I'm watching you, Uwe...

What They Should Do:

Simply, don’t make it. I can’t make that statement funny. I think it’d actually be a better use of time and money to simply buy every person in the world a copy of Pac Man who doesn’t already own a copy.

That, or simply do “King of Kong”, but replace Donkey Kong with Pac Man.

How It’s Probably Going To Turn Out:

Depressingly, it’s probably going to be made by the only people in the world who haven’t ever played Pac Man, except that one guy on the crew who played it a few times who they only keep on the team so they can say “Yeah, people on the crew have played Pac Man, so it’s gonna be close to the source material”, and the only things they know about the game is that the guy is yellow, he eats glowing pills to eat ghosts, and there’s some fruit.

Then they’ll remake Ghostbusters, but paint the protagonist yellow.

Script Extract:

Our hero is running through some dark corridors. The camera does that annoying shaky thing so you’re made to believe it’s from the protagonist’s perspective. He trips, and as he turns around, a ghost (who for accuracy, will be a man wearing an orange sheet) slowly moves up towards him.

Clyde: Well, well, well… If it isn’t Pequenos Arigato Chuck… It looks like you’ve finally met your match. You may have killed Inky, Blinky and Pinky, but now, you’re cornered, and while my comrades may eventually come back, there’s no return for you, my friend…

While Clyde is talking, the camera pans to Pequenos, who slowly picks up a round, flashing pill as big as his hand. He begins to eat it as Clyde turns around, and the camera pans back to him.

Clyde: (Cont) So, Pequenos Arigato Chuck, do you have any last words?

Clyde is eaten whole, by a glowing, flashing Pequenos.

Pequenos: Call Me P.A.C… Man…

Everyone in the cinema collectively groans and asks for their money back.

If It Was Anything Like The Source Material:

A fat guy in a yellow shirt travels around 255 identical mazes, obsessively eating everything in sight, while avoiding the ghosts of people he’s eaten, until he finds magic flashing weight loss pills that allow him to eat ghosts.

Metal Gear Solid

Bear with me on this one. The Metal Gear Solid series is probably one of the first that people will think of when they think of what could be applied to Cinema and succeed. Especially when the games themselves are so cinematic. Plus, I think Hideo Kojima’s heavily involved with it as well, so it’s not like it’s going to be poorly written or made. The guy knows what he’s doing… Doesn’t he?

After all, he’s an amazing writer, he created the damn series, he won’t give it to someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing, and he’ll put enough work into it to make it work.

The problem I have with this film is that simply put, the Metal Gear Solid stories are amazing… but over the course of a game. I don’t think it’d make an amazing movie, especially because the epic stories are just that. It’d water down the impact, I feel, if they condensed it into a short film.

Also, David Hayter, the voice actor for Snake in the series, has had his adaptation of the film passed over, and it’s unlikely he’ll be a part of the film.

How It’s Probably Going To Turn Out:

It’s probably going to be an interesting take on the Metal Gear Solid franchise, but it’ll be too short and too condensed to tell a truly epic tale, the effects and performances won’t seem as powerful as in the game, and while it’ll probably be quite good, or well made, just won’t have the impact of the games, and seem too watered down.

Script Extract:

I had to get a friend to translate the script from Japanese, but he assures me the following is an honest script extract, and I have no reason to disagree:

Solid Snake: Well, Otacon, what seems to be the situation here?

Otacon: I’m a scientist! I come up with inventions and giant nuclear robots for peace!

Raiden: I’m a pretty ballerina!

Hideo Kojima: I’m messing with all your minds! Everything I say is a postmodern attack against the way I view the world!

Liquid Snake: BRROOOOOTHEEERRRRRRR

Ocelot: I never really was on your side!

Then the translation trails off into dick jokes and constant laughter at my expense.

…Yup.

If It Was Anything Like The Source Material:

It’d be longer than the Extended Version of The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, with a complete destruction of the 4th wall, a lot more confusion, twists and turns, with none of the resolution.

What Should Happen:

Everyone working on the film will all realise that they’ve already made a Metal Gear Solid Movie…

Yeah, I pretty much only put MGS in this list to make a bad joke about a game I haven't played yet. I'm a terrible person.

(Though, since writing this originally, I have since started playing through. The point still remains. As well as this, rumours are abound that talks for the movie have fallen through, meaning that it probably won’t be made for a while, if at all).

Need For Speed

Apparently, the Need for Speed series of racing games, which for a long while, were basically Street Racers (and I think they still are), has also got itself a motion picture coming out eventually.

If It Was Anything Like The Source Material:

They could pretty much rip a story straight out of their games, but there’s really one of two they could do. Either have it based off a spunky young street racer with everything to prove, as he attempts to become top dog in the land of street racing. Or, an undercover cop trying to uncover the leader of a street racing syndicate and…

Oh right, that.

How It’s Probably Going To Turn Out:

Literally just any of the Fast And Furious movies, with everyone trying desperately to appeal to the teenaged, chavvy demographic.

Script Extract:

The oddest thing happened when I discovered the script for the Need for Speed movie: It’s exactly like the script for the Fast and Furious movies, but with some of the names changed. See for yourself:
Din Viesel is talking to Maul Palker, they are standing by some totally pimp cars, which are totally pimp.

Din Viesel: You’re not an undercover cop, trying to catch me and several of my friends for illegally street racing, are you? Because if you happened to be an undercover cop, trying to catch me and several of my friends for illegally street racing, then me and several of my friends who illegally street race will kill you, and then continue to illegally street race, illegally.

Maul Palker: Nope. I am not an undercover cop, trying to catch you and several of your friends for illegally street racing. I am simply a man who wishes to join you and several of your friends who street race, which I should clarify, is highly illegal.

Din Viesel: I believe you. Let’s illegally street race in a way which glorifies this totally awesome yet illegal endeavour!

Maul Palker: I sure do have a NEED FOR SPEED!

They step in their totally pimp cars, and drive in an illegal street race in a way which glorifies this totally awesome, yet illegal endeavour. Chavs and idiots around the world put spoilers on their cheap cars in a bid to look cool. This fails to make their cars look any cooler or faster.

What Should Happen:

Just realise that the Fast and the Furious franchise got there before them. In fact, wasn’t the change to Street Racing style in Need for Speed games directly caused by the success of the Fast and Furious franchise? Basically, it’s going to be a film of a game that is heavily based off another film. If anyone else tried to do make a film of a game that was heavily based off another film or book, that’d be crazy, surely?

Okay, seriously? EA, we need to have words.

(This joke magically became 3 times funnier and more awesome when it was revealed that not only would EA release Dante’s Inferno: The Book based on the Game based on the Book, but would release a Movie based on the Book based on the Game based on the Book. Not only did I predict it months before it was revealed, but I’ve now heavily confused you, too. Moving on, though )

Asteroids:

In comparison, a live action Pac Man almost seems like a reasonable idea.

It’s even more mind boggling when you consider that 4 movie companies were in a bidding war to secure the rights for this film. That’s right. Companies bid millions of dollars to secure the rights to a game that wasn’t even 8 kilobytes in size. In comparison, some modern games can fill up a blu-ray disc 25 gigabytes in size. It’s simply mind boggling how far games have come in that regard, and also mind boggling how Universal Studios can make a movie out of a game where you, a triangle, shoot some verrrry slowly moving shapes that kind of resemble asteroids, in what is probably a shapeism-related mass murder.

You shapeist!

If It’s Anything Like The Source Material:

A small triangle will float in space, taking his shape-hating prejudice out on a bunch of asteroids that probably did nothing to him. Or, bullied him in shape school. Except it to be long, boring, and ending with the triangle losing as he realises he should give those damn asteroids a chance!… Right as they destroy him.

How It’s Probably Going To Turn Out:

They’ll probably just make another Deep Impact or Armageddon, but somehow try to relate it to the game. Seriously, the game has no story to it whatsoever, so trying to give it one is more pointless than trying to justify Scientology as a real religion.

Script Extract

A green triangle floats around in a large empty space, occupied only by itself and several large asteroids.

Triangle: I’ll show those darn Asteroids what for!

He fires a single shot at a nearby Asteroid. It explodes into three, smaller, faster parts.

Triangle: Oh, fu-

The Triangle is destroyed by one of the Asteroids.

Nothing else happens. The Audience puts in another coin and watches again.

What They Should Do:

Gamelife do this far better than I actually could. It’d just be best if you read that.

And that’s all for now! Hope you enjoyed reading

<3 Edward

Jan

What is the Future for Gaming?

By plusxp Leave a Comment

Categories: Article
Tags: 3DTV, Eye Pet, google, milo, natal, wii motion plus

Contributed by Bob Moss

This oft-pondered question will inevitably be out of date within the next 12 months, but with all these game releases and developments in the industry we can reflect on what we have already and where things are heading.

For instance, the use of 3D-HD technology in the next few years is almost a given. Phillips plan to ship the first 3DTV sets as early as Spring 2011, and Sony have already announced 3D-HD Blu Ray and a firmware upgrade for all PS3 users that enables 3D content. Furthermore, there are contenders to Phillips’ 3D standard from the likes of Toshiba and LG, suggesting that 3D content will be coming to the industry in a big way. As you’ll have read from the reports of CES 2010 and even our own articles here on PlusXP this is a new technology the games industry is taking very seriously indeed and in the next few years we should expect to be wearing some stylish-looking glasses during game-play.

On the subject of spectacles, immersive gaming could be the next big thing. Previously dubbed ‘virtual reality headsets’, these specialized pieces of eye-wear are much lighter and simply comprise a pair of glasses rather than a new hat! The device allows you to see what is around you in real life, but the game engine adds game play elements to this in your real environment. We’re already seeing such examples of this work from the University of Bristol, and Google has implemented similar technology for it’s ‘Google Googles’ application, using GPS to enable users to roam around seeing places of interest marked out on what the phone camera sees. Not only does this show that the technology is here, it also proves it has some business viability and could see some major investment in the next few years.

Inevitably if we’re talking about game-play objects being imposed on reality the Sony EyeToy deserves an honourable mention. Though this has been around for a number of years it has always ever been a fairly niche product. With increasing competition from other consoles, it’s not unreasonable to think that further titles and investment will go into this technology. Eye Pet is an excellent example of this concept, enabling kids to play with a virtual pet rather than parents needing to feed or clean up after it!

This brings us on to the impeding release of Project Natal, Microsoft’s new flagship innovation for the XBOX 360. The company promises us that we will see it ’some time in 2010′ and even leaves Steven Spielberg speechless. Rather than manipulating your console with a controller, users for the first time will be able to manipulate and immerse themselves into the game-play environment like never before with just their hands. The device also comes with face and object recognition technology, and with the promise it may be a relatively cheap item to add to your existing setup, this should excite most games console users (or even fans of the Nintendo Wii).
As was shown by the Milo project, the potential for this technology is huge – with much more human interaction with an AI character. There are even rumours that the developers at Redwood Studios will be using Project Natal extensively in the coming release of Fable 3.
Despite this, Project Natal has drawn criticism from some speculative articles that it could potentially just be a niche product. Though with the potential to transform home media centres (i.e. by shuffling through album art to choose your favourite track) and even the desktop experience this should at least excite hardened users, even if more hard-core gamers choose to stick with their beloved hand-held gamepad.

And finally, we already have the Wii Motion Plus which gives users the ability to easily manipulate their environment over two axies in an easy and casual environment. There are plenty of rumours circulating around that the next controller for the Wii could use biometric data such as skin reaction and heart rate to tailor gaming. In this way a hard-core gamer would see much more gore and action to keep their heart rate and excitement levels up while a casual gamer would be ushered gently into the game. This could have big potential, as this once again keeps the Wii accessible to all the family while still appealing to more experienced gamers after top-notch performance.

So, what do we see for the future of gaming? Not necessarily a change in the kind of games we play – but the way we interact with games will be the major hotbed of innovation for the coming decade. Though there will be plenty of die-hard enthusiasts who stick to using their PCs with joysticks and game-pads this is an exciting time for the casual and experienced gamers alike. Whether you want your parents to join you or want to spend the next 10 years locked away in your room throwing Mohawk grenades at people there will be something to cater for everyone. Bring on the ’10s!

- Bob Moss

Nov

Eurogamer 2009: Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story

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Categories: Preview
Tags: bowser's inside story, DS, eurogamer, mario & luigi, Nintendo, RPG

dscover

A game that really drew me to this year’s Eurogamer expo was Mario and Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story. My attention span is not my greatest quality; I much prefer a good handheld game that I can play at my convenience, rather than a long RPG which can have some gamers hooked for hours on end (no names mentioned…). However, much to my surprise this game introduced me to a new small-scale version of an RPG on a handheld. This originality tweaked my interest as to whether I could enjoy an RPG style game on a handheld console.

The game switches between three characters: Mario and Luigi are found together inside Bowser’s body for the first part of the game, exploring a 2-D platform-style environment. However, battles are still turn based, and are initiated by touching the enemies on-screen. Bowser explores the Mushroom Kingdom in a 3/4 overhead-view world, much like the previous Mario & Luigi games, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time.

However, further into the game, Mario & Luigi can leave Bowser’s body to explore the Kingdom as well. From this point onwards, they can then use pipes to go back inside Bowser’s body if they wish.

The plot of the game revolves around a mysterious infection called “The Blorbs” which is taking over the Kingdom. The infection makes the Toads grow in size, and causes them to roll around against their will. The Mario brothers, as part of a council, are called in to discuss what needs to be done – the apparent cause some strange item called a “Blorb Shroom”. However, the meeting is disturbed by Bowser, who is up to his usual tricks and trying to kidnap Princess Peach. But Mario, Peach’s permanent knight in shining armour once again fights him and defeats him and saves the fair maiden.

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Bowser later finds himself in a strange forest, where a dodgy figure offers him a “Lucky Mushroom”, promising him that it will grant him power to finally defeat Mario. However, it causes Bowser to go ballistic and inhale everything in his path, including everyone in the council meeting before collapsing. Mario and co., as well as the council, are shrunk to tiny proportions and find themselves inside Bowser’s body. The mysterious figure takes over both Peach’s and Bowser’s Castle. When Bowser awakens, he tries to reclaim his castle; meanwhile, Mario and Luigi, their friends, and the rest of the inhaled Toads must work alongside Bowser from within in order to find an exit, stop the bad guy, and rescue Princess Peach (yet again, trouble must be her middle name!).

The battle system is a continuation of that from the previous Mario and Luigi titles, and this time Bowser is also a playable character. Bowser’s battle system is much like Mario and Luigi’s, although fights alone, much stronger than the italian plumbers. He can also gain the ability to purposely inhale his enemies later on, enabling Mario and Luigi to fight the enemy inside Bowser, in a strange sort of Bowser-Mario co-operation.

The game is controlled via the X,Y,A,B buttons – with Mario and Luigi each being assigned two of the buttons. In the platform areas, you control both of their directions with the D-pad, but must press their individual jump buttons for the platforming elements – although I found this a little odd, I’m sure it’s something you’d get used to. Similarly, battle commands for the brothers are also performed with their respective buttons, many of the attacks being performed like mini-games – such as timing button presses to kick a shell back and forth off of an enemy to string up a combo and increase the damage of the attack.

battle

What makes this game different to the previous two installments is the introduction of the ranking system, where players increase their rank as they level up. By earning ranks, the characters are able to equip more items, buy more equipment, and maybe earn a new item. In the game, there are 6 ranks for Mario and Luigi and 4 ranks for Bowser.

A great feature of this game is the minigames. Being quite the avid fan of minigames (possibly as result of low attention span or indeed the cause of it??) it was great to learn that this game has introduced more minigames than the previous two games which only featured one. The minigames within the game revolve around the parts of Bowser’s body including strengthening his arms and legs (each an independent minigame) as well as helping Bowser digest his food. One of the minigames even results in Bowser being made into a giant, which allows the player to enter a new battle system where the DS is held open like a book, and the stylus and microphone are used to control the attacks rather than the A, B, X or Y buttons, for example blowing the microphone results in Bowser breathing fire.

fire
In this game, you gain Skill Points (SP) which work in the same way as Bros. Points (BP) from the previous games, however with the introduction of Bowser they needed to be renamed. Further to this, you can also acquire items by collecting 10 “Attack Parts”. Once all ten parts of an item have been collected, the player can then repeatedly use the completed item, but, using it requires set amounts of skill points, much like MP in traditional RPGs. Bowser works in a slightly different way, he can also gain special attacks, but in order to do so he must free his minions or collecting Blitties which he can give to Broque Monsieur. Furthermore, in comparison to Mario and Luigi who require the directional pad to perform special attacks, all of Bowser’s attacks use the touch screen to function.

Overall, I found this an enjoyable game which uses all elements of the DS controls. At times, I found controlling both Mario and Luigi simultaneously a little tricky but this is more than likely due to my lack of hand-eye coordination rather than a technical issue. I am sure with a bit of practice I will soon get the hang of it. The game is graphically similar to the previous Mario RPG with a more traditional battle system, Paper Mario. The game also keeps to its classic platforming roots with level similar to the classic Mario style that we all know and love. However, this game does shows clear progression with a more enhanced RPG style battle system which will able to those gamers who want an RPG that is not some time-consuming as the ones on the PS3 and Xbox which can end up consuming your life.

-Sam

Nov

Eurogamer 2009: Tatsunoko vs Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars

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Categories: Preview
Tags: Beat em up, capcom, street fighter, tatsunoko, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom

So once again somebody is picking a fight with Capcom and this time its epic. Tatsunoko vs Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars was developed by Eighting and Capcom and developed for the Wii. It’s the 7^th in the ’VS’ series and features characters from Capcom’s top games as well as characters from Tatsunoko’s animation studios. We are actually lucky to get this game as there were a few problems localizing the game outside Japan as developers were worried the Tatsunoko characters wouldn’t appeal to a non-Japanese audience and the rights to most of Tatsunoko’s characters belong to different countries in north America so thank you!

ultimate

The rounds take place on a 2.5 plane with 3D rendered backgrounds which is a first for the VS series. The rounds are a two on two fights and finish when both characters on either teams health bars are depleted. The game has a variable assist feature allowing you to shout your partner for an assist which involves you partner jumping in and performing an attack to get you out of a jam. Be careful though as assisting characters can take damage if you call an assist at the wrong time. The game has the classic arcade mode where you battle through the stages until you reach the boss Yami (Okami). The game features a time trial mode which involves speeding through the game in the fastest time and a classic survival mode which limits health regeneration as the stages progress. For the multiplayer modes there’s the chance to fight two on two simultaneously like street fighters dramatic battle mode and a four player mini game to boot. The intro song is called across the border and is sung by Asami Abei.

The games plays similar to Marvel vs Capcom, but here are a few of the combat systems new and old. The variable attack system allows you to swap characters and jump in with an attack. Variable counter is when a counter attack is performed during a changeover of characters which allows the swapping out character to swap back in with an attack. “Snapback” system forces the opponent to swap character should you hit. The aerial rave system allows you to swap characters in mid-air and an interesting feature that I wasn’t aware of at euro gamer was the “mega crash” system which is a defensive manoeuvre and allows you to escape an opponent’s attack while sacrificing part of his or hers life and few stocks of the level bar. Baroque cancel is something I accidently activated which gave me an edge in my fight against this guy in a beanie which uses the red part of the life bar and causes you to glow a rainbow of colours and allows you to string together faster combos and increased attack power depending on how much red is sacrificed. This mode stops when the red portion is used up or a hyper is performed . . . and yes I beat the guy in the beanie.

shinku

The game adopts a simple 3 button attack system “weak” “medium” and “heavy” which is derived from street fighter and previous vs titles since it’s developed for the Wii. The moves are pretty basic and nowhere near as complicated as the classic street fighters. I think Leon will remember the blister on my thumb when street fighter alpha 3 was released! To perform the hyper moves it’s simply the hadoken movement on the d-pad or joystick and tapping two buttons at the same time. The hyper bars build up quite quickly and the facts these moves are easy to pull off they don’t do quite as much damage which makes the battles more immense. I pulled of three successful shinku hadokens with Ryu in one fight which really heated up the battle but my opponent was still fighting back with a third of his health.

You will see an interesting range of characters; from Capcom’s Ryu to Frank West, and Tatsunoko’s Eagle Man to Lightan, there are also several cameo characters such as Casshan’s dog Freinder and Soki’s ally Jubei from Onimusha 4. There are only two characters in the game which fight alone and they are Tatsunoko’s Lightan and Capcom’s Lost Planet mech PTX-40A, this means they can’t pull off the dual hyper combo like the team based characters can.

casshern

At the Eurogamer this year this was my favourite game. The Eurogamer display had just one screen and two joysticks and what appeared to be ‘winner stays on’ system so I joined the queue. When I sat down I managed to take out the winner who had one 5 previous rounds and stayed on through 3 rounds then retired with my hat-trick as the queue was pretty big and I had to let Leon have a pop at this one. Was nice to see they did a good job with Ryu since I haven’t seen one since Capcom vs SNK 2. After a nice win we left as we had what we needed and now I’m just waiting for it to hit the shelves in Europe next January. With Plenty of new and old interesting characters, new hyper moves, first time 3D backgrounds, epic battles and the game critics award for “best fighting game” E3 2009 this game is at the top of my list!

-Ray

Nov

Eurogamer 2009: Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box

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Categories: Game News and Preview
Tags: DS, eurogamer, Nintendo, pandora's box, Professor Layton, puzzle

artwork

For my first review for Plus XP I have decided to delve into the one of the trendiest and most popular game types on the Nintendo DS with gamers and non-gamers alike – the puzzle game. As a whole, puzzle games on consoles are perceived as the most accessible to all levels of gamers, so who better to review it than someone like me who enjoys the lighter, slightly more puzzling side of gaming?

This review will focus primarily on the latest puzzle game to be released on the DS, Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box, from the Professor Layton series. I played the game at Eurogamer; however it was hard to make a fair judgment of the difficulty level of the puzzles due to bad placement of the console at the expo – the DS consoles were placed near to the Beatles Rock Band stage, and it was hard to focus on the puzzles with a tone-deaf gamer screeching a Beatles Song behind you. However, I will endeavor to give you as much insight as I can.

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The plot of the game follows Professor Layton and his young assistant, Luke, as they travel cross-country by train to solve the mystery behind a peculiar box that is said to kill anyone who opens it. The plot revolves around several different locations, unlike the first game in the series, Professor Layton and the Curious Village which focused on just one location.

The game offers a variety of puzzles including brain teasers, sliding puzzles, logic puzzles and many others. One puzzle involved having an image of four couples sat at tables on a train, and with a few clues – such as “Mr Smith is sat opposite his wife”, and “The Jones couple are sitting next to the aisle”, and using deduction work out where a certain person is sitting. Another puzzle involved watching a ball under one of three cups being mixed around, and then working out how many moves would be necessary in order to get the ball into a certain position.

Each puzzle is worth a certain amount of “picarats” depending on difficulty and is given an unlimited time period to solve. However, if you get the puzzle was wrong, the value of the puzzle decreases by approximately ten percent each time. But, the player does have the option to quit the puzzle at no cost and try a different one, although some puzzles are mandatory in order to progress. Further to this, if you are a puzzle junkie and wanna do the puzzle again, once completed they are all accessible via the games menu.

Each game will allow you three hints but the player must spend one “hint coin” to see each of them, which can be found throughout the game; however hint coins are limited, so spend them wisely! If you manage to solve these brain teasing puzzles, the picarats are added to Professor Layton’s total score and sometimes he is even rewarded with an item.

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Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box has a highly entertaining side game of trying to get a morbidly obese hamster into shape. One of the three rewards of which can be earned through completing puzzles are pieces of exercise equipment for said hamster. It is highly amusing to see a very chubby rodent jogging round obstacles in order to shed those pounds!

Another reward which can also be earned through puzzle completion is pieces of a shattered camera that was accidently dropped at the beginning of the game; once all pieces are collected the camera can be restored to full working order. The final possible reward for completing puzzle are ingredients to make tea so Professor Layton, Luke and any others they meet can celebrate a good puzzle solve with a nice brew.

In total there are 153 brain challenging puzzles to solve, and those with Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection can download additional puzzles on a weekly basis. All in all, I felt that Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box continued the Professor Layton series of well developed and at times challenging games, however the plot was highly predictable and merely gave context to the items integrated into the puzzles. I felt it did not really push any boundaries, however it achieves what it sets out to do, give your brain a good work out.

-Sam

Oct

Be a Pro with FIFA Soccer 10 (X360)

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Categories: Review
Tags: fifa. 10, football, Review

Unless you’ve been living on Saturn for the past 16 years you can’t fail to have seen, tried and even enjoyed the long-running FIFA series developed by Electronic Arts. Though we’ve seen a few humdrum releases in the past decade FIFA 10 is a much more definitive release and frankly fails to disappoint.

At long last the developers are starting to fully utilize the full high-definition graphics capabilities of both the XBOX 360 and PS3, with the result that player, pitch and stadium detail is truly awesome. Also, we finally get to enjoy the support of a 3D crowd which wasn’t seen in previous versions – it’s mostly consisted of a tiled background animation recently and was something of a glaring omission the developers have finally put right. There is no streaking, hooliganism or pitch invasions as yet, but a man can dream…!

There are of course the usual improvements in skill moves, speed of play and realism but there are several more subtle changes which may have initially escaped your notice but take this game into a whole new dimension. The shooting metrics have been adjusted to take your player attributes far more into account when deciding whether you hit or miss, and you need to actually direct your kicks with the analogue controls and time your headers to perfection to avoid being jostled by a defender. The free kicks can either be taken quickly (a completely new feature) or taken as an on-the-spot kick. As with corners you point your kick-taker in a direction, specify how much power you need and then rely on the player stats to finish the work for you, meaning that for the first time your player attributes will play a much more important role in real-time gameplay.

Generally it seems like FIFA 10 removes a lot of the hand-holding provided during game play that we’ve seen in previous titles. That doesn’t mean to say there aren’t any visual indicators at all, but a lot more control has been handed to us as gamers to play in our own particular style. Of course we still have a few of traditional quirks of the series such as commentary which becomes quite repetitive after a while due to a lack of samples, but you can download additional commentary packs to hear the dulcet tones of John Motson and Mark Lawrenson to add a little variety to the experience and cushion the blow a little.

However, if the traditional game play aspect of FIFA 10 doesn’t tickle your fancy there is always the obligatory manager mode that seems to come with FIFA titles these days. Up until FIFA 10 I’d considered FIFA 2005 to have the best manager mode of the series as it provided player development, had a ridiculously easy interface that even a five year old could use and was very realistic when it came to manager renown and player form.

This seemed to have been taken down a peg or do in the years following, possibly because EA were concerned about sales of Total Club Manager. But with FIFA 10 we finally see a new, more realistic manager mode which focuses on your trying to impress the club board of directors and balance your budget. In previous titles you earned money by winning games and wound up buying the best players in the game, but in FIFA10 buying players from big clubs will result in a sizable premium on their sale price. The only realities they haven’t emulated are Russian oil tycoons buying up a club and giving a blank cheque to buy talent, or players requesting transfers.

But the real selling point of FIFA 10 is ‘Be a Pro’. You can either choose an existing player or create your own, join a club and then play for several seasons working your way up through club football and ultimately to international glory. You are set goals each game that you need to achieve to up your reputation which will help you get picked for more competitive matches or bought by other clubs.

But so far so like ‘FIFA 09 with FIFA 10 enhancements’. What really sets this apart from previous titles? It absolutely has to be the online aspect. You can play in teams of 10 other people all controlling the customized pros they’ve been training up offline in vast net-based competitions (with sizeable prizes up for grabs in the official competitions). There are also the traditional team versus team competitions we’ve all grown to love, but for those who want to truly immerse themselves in the action you won’t be disappointed.

So what’s the verdict? FIFA 10 is still the de facto choice as a footballing game any of your friends could pick up, play and join in with you. Though Pro Evolution Soccer provides more in terms of player development FIFA 10 is an excellent all-rounder with plenty to keep the die-hard fan happy while still catering excellently for the casual gamer. This is a real landmark in the series and well worth the cash for the number of hours you will inevitably spend glued to your seat trying desperately to injure Christiano Ronaldo or get England to win something for a change. If you’ve been putting off buying the latest title for a more distinctive release, then consider your wait well and truly over.

- Bob Moss

Aug

SEGA Mega Drive Ultimate Collection

By plusxp 1 Comment

Categories: Article and Review
Tags: comix zone, sega, sonic, streets of rage

Sega

Whilst waiting for all those games on the horizon I stumbled across the Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection which instantly took me back to my childhood. I grew up in what we call the ‘console wars’ today, the great 16-bit battle between the Sega Mega Drive and the Super Nintendo and playing both I felt I had some input here. The Sega Mega Drive was released in Japan in 1988, North America in 1989 and Europe in 1990. When the console was released in North America Sega couldn’t get legal use of the Mega Drive name and renamed it the Genesis. The Sega Mega Drivewas the most popular console of its generation and even outsold its rival competitor the SNES selling 29 million units worldwide. Later the Mega Drive II was released which was a smarter version of the Sega and the European version had Sega’s very first mascot Alex Kidd built in.

The collection contains the classic essentials as well as a few classic series such as golden axe 1-3, the likes of streets of rage 1-3 and not forgetting Sega’s mascot which lives on today, Sonic the hedgehog. There are seven Sonic titles in total including Sonic and Knuckles but sadly you can’t play the Sonic 2 and 3 combination games like you could by slotting them into the Sonic and Knuckles cartridge. I read in a few places that if this was the case there wouldn’t havebeen so many titles on the ultimate collection.

The game features titles released over the consoles life from the early games such as Altered Beast and Golden Axe to the later games such as Sonic 3 and Shinobi 3. The game consists of 49 games in total with 40 playable from the start and the others unlocked as you progress through the game. Playing these games again made me realise how much harder gaming used to be and how we’ve grown soft in our old age (22), but the game does offer some nice features such as the ability to save progress to the Xbox hard drive, any game and anywhere in the game, so there’s no need to fear those nasty bosses or those skin of the teeth jumps! You can access the menu any point during the game by pressing the back button which is a nice touch so you’re completely in control at any point. The game also features a rendering option to smooth out and slightly updates the graphics although I find this takes away some of the detail, and these games should be played in all their original glory. The ultimate collection features a simple rating system so when scrolling up and down through the games you can simply press left or right and give the game a rating from one to five which I thought was a nice touch.

This title gives gamers of all generations the chance to either re-live their past or experience the forefathers of gaming and appreciate what we have today. Some titles feature a nice co-op mode such as the Streets of Rage series and the Golden Axe series to name a few. The Streets of Rage series has always been a favourite of mine; the only downside is we still have the European versions which means in Streets of Rage 3 we miss out on a extra boss/playable character and we don’t have the characters original colours - but the game itself still stands as a classic fighter. We also have the Golden Axe series which includes the rare Golden Axe 3

The Sega ultimate collection also features unlockables, such as other Sega classics, interviews with some of the Sega team and also earlier arcade and Sega Master System versions of some of the games from the original roster. The interviews are in japanese with english subtitles and give an insight to what its like working for Sega and bit more of an insight to some of the games. There are 9 games in total to unlock - Alien Syndrome, Altered Beast, Shinobi, Phantasy Star 1, Tip Top, Space Harrier, Golden Axe Warrior, Fantasy Zone and Zaxoon. They are simply unlocked by playing through the games and earning various achievements which aren’t too hard to pick up and quite enjoyable.

Here is a list of the contents of Segas Ultimate Collection:

Streets of rage 1-3
Golden axe 1-3
Sonic 1-3
Sonic Spinball
Sonic and Knuckles
Dr Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
Sonic 3D
Comix Zone
Alex Kidd
Alien Storm
Altered Beast
Bonanza Bros
Columns
Decap Attack
Dynamite Headdy
E-swat
Ecco the Dolphin 1-2
Fatal Labyrinth
Flicky
Gain Ground
Kid Chameleon
Phantasy Star 2-4
Ristar
Shining Force 1-2
Shining in the Darkness
Shinobi 3

Streets of Rage 3

The Streets of Rage series is about the evil Mr X who has taken over the city with his evil crime organization. His vicious syndicate has the president and even the police force under their control and it’s up to Axel and co, who are ex police officers to clean up the streets and put an end to Mr X once and for all. Mr X somehow finds ways back through the series but Axel and friends are never far away. There are new characters in each game and they just get better and better. Streets of rage 3 is my fave boasting more moves, characters and better visuals.

Sonic 2

Sonic the Hedgehog is Sega’s biggest hero and involves him and his sidekick Tails saving the day from the evil Dr Robotnik. Sonic 2 and 3 offer co-op play allowing an extra person to play as Tails to aid you in your quest through hills, volcanic mountains, over ice caps and into space to put an end to Robotnik’s madness. My youth came straight back after playing these games and I couldn’t put Sonic down like I couldn’t fifteen years ago. I’m a huge fan of the series and own nearly all the original cartridges as part of my collection, my most prized being the Sonic and Knuckles cartridge.

Comix Zone

Comix Zone is one of Sega’s most impressive titles, playing the role of Sketch Turner, a comic book artist who gets sucked into his comic book as a bolt of lightning strikes New York city - releasing and giving life to the evil villain of Sketch’s comic who now has control of the comic world and wants Sketch out of the picture. Aided by his trusty rat sidekick, Sketch must escape the comic book and stop his evil creation from taking over the world. This game is visually amazing, very clever and well thought out. A little hard but thanks to the save function some of the stress can be taken out.

Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection is a nostalgic treat; enjoy!

-Ray