Ben-DutkaGoddamn heat wave. Over 100 three days in a row…needed both the bedroom and living room air conditioners, along with closed drapes, in order to keep it cool in here. …I hate summer.
Er…"new mechanics" in Dragon Age 2?
I don't like it when companies make announcements and don't bother to elaborate on obviously intriguing details. So BioWare goes and officially announces Dragon Age 2 and says we can expect it in March 2011, but that's hardly the most interesting part. The GameSpot article and the press release made mention of "new mechanics" but neither saw fit to provide any further info…and that irks me. What exactly do they mean? If you alter the mechanics even slightly, the entire gameplay changes, and that could really annoy fans of the original title. Maybe it doesn't really have anything to do with the basic control or style of combat, but something a little less obvious and significant…I don't know. But either way, it'll be interesting to see if BioWare really changes the pace and structure in the sequel. Personally, I'm fine with the gameplay the way it is; I'd just ask for either an easier difficulty curve or the option of power-leveling via respawning enemies.
It's weird, actually. This may be the first time in my gaming history when I could say a Western RPG is my most anticipated role-playing title of the next year… I'd say Final Fantasy Versus XIII , but I'm too clueless in regards to that project.
So everybody's all stoked for Vanquish now?
Heh…it was pretty obvious. I don't recall many people around here expressing a ton of interest in Platinum's Vanquish , regardless of the media or info we gathered. But suddenly, Insomniac goes and praises it to high heaven , and there are a lot more anticipatory gamers out there. 😉 Oh, don't worry, I get it. It makes sense. Insomniac is well-respected, especially amongst PlayStation fans, and when they say things like, "my favorite game at E3 was Vanquish " and "a brilliant technical showpiece," everyone stands up and takes notice. However, I would like to remind you all that I was very much interested in Vanquish from the get-go, primarily because I do like Gears , and also because I loved Bayonetta and respect Platinum Games and Shinji Mikami. That footage from E3 looks pretty damn good and bear in mind that camera footage almost never looks impressive. What I want to see is a demo of this bad boy…
The question is whether or not it will be able to stand up against the stiff competition later this year. New IPs can have extreme difficulty competing with established franchises, even around the holidays when people loosen the purse strings a bit.
Personal gaming update
I finished Singularity , which I really enjoyed. I highly recommend it if you want a satisfying FPS with a really cool twist; it even boasts a relatively decent story. I so don't regret playing it through to completion and now, I'm going to see if I can get the Wii over here and start on Super Mario Galaxy 2 . In the meantime, I've been playing Castlevania: Symphony of the Night – just because it's one of the best games in history – and actually, it doesn't look half bad on my new TV. I won't be testing anything 3D on it until the fall but in the meantime, I have to say that anything in high-definition looks downright phenomenal on this thing. In terms of future games, I really can't think of anything I want right now, so I've got some time to either catch up or play a few classics.
And by the way, just one thing I'd like to add in regards to the heat: a few people – a very few people these days – have reason to wear less clothing and show off. If you do not have a reason, please…for the love of God…we don't want to see it. We really, really don't.
Feel the same way about people's clothing choices when during the summer. There are quite a few people here in GA that could use some extra clothing lol.
Have been playing Yakuza 3 and Resident Evil 5 this week, trying to get the platinum in RE5. RE5 has a high replay value for me since I acquired the infinite rocket launcher, only like 6 more trophies to go.
Yakuza 3 is the first game in the series I have played and I really like it. The biggest thing so far with this game that bothers me is characters talking about the hostess clubs and I would have really liked to experience that. Also the mini games are pretty fun, really enjoyed the golf one. I wish more games (were they would fit with the game) would employ various types of mini games. It keeps the game interesting to me.
killet what would you compare yakuza 3 to? does it play like streets of rage with the ability to add points to your character ala spiderman web of shadows? btw ben, will you be reviewingor have any interest in the new BlazBlue Continuum Shift?
I have never played either of those games. It is somewhat like a Grand Theft Auto game but then again its not. Problem I have with the game is since it was originally a Japanese release game it uses English subtitles and the characters do not speak. To me it is a problem that doesn't really take away from the game play.
The story is pretty good you can view a recap of Yakuza 1 and 2 at the start of the game, which helped me since I had never played either.
There are a lot of random fights with punks when you are walking down the street. The fights are a little over the top (which I like). You can pick up items in the environment during fights to use as weapons. After you win a fight they will pay you money and you can use this money to buy items, weapons at local vendors.
Hopefully that helps you out some. Let me know if you have any other ? about it. Yakuza 3 is a def rent for me. I may write a review for the game when I finish it
FYI: The demo is out in Japan for Yakuza 4 on the PS Store. You can google how to create a Japan PSN account if you want to give it a try.
Yakuza 3 is good; it's a street brawler with exploration and a story. So yeah, character development but not as arcade-y or beat-'em-up as Streets of Rage.
We have a review for one of the BlazBlues (not sure which one) but no, I personally have no interest in fighting games.
That'd be Calamity Trigger, the first one. The sequel isn't released in NA yet, it's due on 27th July. And please please let PSXE review it. I know that means more work for you guys, but your reviews rock, and I'd like to see this site's take on it.
As with Guilty Gear its likely just an expansion but honestly I was disappointed with the combat so I hope they remove signature move from X and with a Kick function.
Sympozium: BlazBlue =/= Guilty gear. It's not an expansion, more like a sequel, because they continue on with the story after Calamity Trigger. And the Drive button is the most awesome thing that happened to fighting games, gave each character their uniqueness.
Wolf: We'll certainly try but I'm not sure you'd want me to review it. I'm no good at fighting games and I wouldn't be able to compare the game to other titles in the series. At least, not well.
I meant "your reviews" in a plural sense. As in your and Arnold's reviews (and John if he does reviews… but I don't think I've seen reviews by him)
Quick question for you Ben, you mentioned before that you were pretty sure Mass Effect 2 was coming to the PS3, now that some time has passed and there has been zero news about it how are the chances looking? Seeing that Sony and EA are best friends, do you think we can look forward to some type of GOTY ME2 this year or next?
My theory is that before ME3 comes out, there will be ME1&2 on a single blu ray.
I suspected the same thing with ME+ME2 on one Blu-Ray until Michael Pachter (from some Gametrailers bit) said that would probably be next to impossible because of what sounded like probable litigation entanglements with Bioware's former publisher … I have no idea how or why that would be, but it isn't assuring.
I have been playing Mass Effect some though. Pretty dang awesome, mostly. The combat action is pretty crap, but the whole epic'ness and design presentation is amazing. Also, I tried the ME2 demo and the combat appears to have been improved immensely. Let's hope Bioware figures something out so PS3-only owners get a shot at one of the most highly reviewed franchises this console gen (see Metacritic for aggregate ratings).
really? maybe they had some entanglement with MS or something. I don't know much about ME's publishing. I think I can live without it though.
I have no idea. I think it's more likely to see ME3 on the PS3 rather than ports of either of the first two, but other than that, I don't really know.
And I don't really care, either. Never liked ME.
the first ME was great ( haven't played the 2nd ),not sure what ben didn't like about it but id like to hear it
I just didn't like it. It felt like a mediocre third-person shooter with some semi-intriguing story elements. The gameplay just sucked, IMO.
Didn't play the second one, though.
my most anticipated role-playing title is fallout nv, but that is this year…
Vanquish dont do nothing for me..
I finished Singularity..yea is only 8 hrs long
but has multiplayer.
Last edited by goodgamer on 7/10/2010 10:15:26 PM
LOL at that last comment. Seriously, in the summertime, only the girls should shed clothes. It's winter here, obviously, but it still doesn't get any lower than about 23 degrees celsius. So it goes. I'm actually under my blanket right now.
I still haven't played Dragon Age: Origins. It's on my list, but I've got about ten games before I get to it, so I can't really comment on the sequel except to again state that I don't think it should be called Dragon Age 2.
Vanquish is higher than it was on my interest list, but unless it scores above nine on average, I'll not have anything to do with it. There are a great many more games that I have yet to deal with.
Personal update.
I once again wrote just under three thousand words this week and am coming close to finishing the current chapter.
Reached the last book of The Time Ships, and oh, it's good. It's far more sci-fi than The Time Machine, but not as pure, so I don't think it is as good.
Still plowing through Valkyria Chronicles, it's taking way too long. I'm thinking of just busting through it this week if I can. I probably won't be able to though because I managed to trade my workmate for Demon's Souls. He borrowed my copy of God of War 3, and after that he wants FFXIII, so that should give me a good long while to hold onto DS.
That's about all I think.
Ben, I had an idea on Tuesday about a series of editorials that I would like you to do. It's probably not worth my mentioning though. I just think that it would be a nice break from the sort of game-specific things that you're doing now.
I propose that you take an in-depth look at how socio-political issues are used in games. How they are used, how you think they should be used, or indeed if they should be used, but try to keep away from mentioning these issues in relation to real-life circumstances. The biggest hurdle to this, I think, would be in the monitoring of the comments as we all have a tendency to become sidetracked, and well I can only imagine how the arguments would explode.
Anyway, I was thinking topics along the lines of: Death, Gender Roles, Story Emphasis, Segregation/Bias, Mental Disease… I had a lot more, but they've slipped my mind. I'm sure if you choose to follow this path you could come up with more, or offer suggestions to the members of this site, so whatever. Just an idea I had.
Peace all.
First of all, I was mostly talking about the girls…there are just too many who should be covering up a LOT more.
Secondly, it's not a bad idea but such topics are probably a little too scientifically intense for PSXE. Personally, I wouldn't mind doing them as I DO have a degree in Psychology but I think Val would say it doesn't really fit the readership.
Well I never had to worry about seeing people with less clothing than should be had. I live in a town of 113 people. My nearest neighbor is two miles down the road so I don't see human life for days on end LOL. Look up Belle Union, Indiana on Google Earth for further proof haha.
A number of years ago in Toronto, a woman in construction got charged for indecent exposure for taking off her shirt and bra in hot weather. All the construction men had their shirts off, so she sued the city for discrimination….
and won…
It is now perfectly legal, here in the province of Ontario in Canada, for women to be seen in public without any upper body clothing whatsoever.
And fellas…. it's actually NOT an awesome law…. no one good-looking ever takes advantage of such equality… It's never a pretty sight…
Just throwing that out there. lol. How's THAT for covering up? lol
Underdog: Yeah, I know about that rule up there. When it got passed, there were a lot of guys in the US going, "aw man, we gotta go up there and check it out!"
I think I was the only one saying, "uhhh…that will NOT be attractive. The girls with bodies you WANT to see will NOT be out there."
I rather like Brazil's rule though go topless if you want and there was majority of nice women 🙂
It's definitely a self-esteem thing, and really, all one can do is look away (or try hard to). I went to see UFC 116 (Lesnar v Carwin) at a local Applebee's, and the young waitresses were wearing short shorts. Fine enough, but they were hiking them up like they were in competition with each other, and they just looked silly.
Guess I'm lucky in terms of the sheilas. Only the good looking ones wear skimpy bikinis and such as here. The larger women tend to stick to one-pieces. But the blokes. OH MY… THE HORROR. Seriously, most of them look like grounded Zeppelins. Truly not a pretty sight.
As for my idea, could you perhaps put it to a poll? This is the most intelligent and civil readership I've ever seen on a gaming site, so were it to belong anywhere it would be here methinks.
Peace.
Yah, if Platinum Games lands another hit with Vanquish they'll jump up to being one of my fav devs.
sorry to hear about the heat, the most we have here is like high 80's almost 90's the humidity is high and it sucks but ive had worse.
i plan to get a wii when it is priced correctly. meaning $99 or less. then i will score some of the mario games and such. til then that money spent on a currently priced wii could buy me several AAA PS3 games.
Personal gaming update: i platinumed heavy rain in the past week and got my copy of assassins creed II. ACII is way deeper than i had expected. im having a lot of fun with this game. i also got kingdom hearts and have been playing it with my kid. shes loving that.
on a daily basis i have been playing that brain challenge game. i have been doing pretty well, at 45% brain use so far after a week. my gf keeps getting upset with the game and blaming it on how she doesnt know the controller. she keeps showing interest in games but then gives up as soon as she is frustrated. at one point she said it was to easy make it harder when she couldnt do it on easy in the first place. i dont know about her.
anyway back to the killing.
I haven't thought much about it, but I would buy a Wii for $99 or less. I haven't played a Mario game since my mid 20's. A kid price for a kid machine is the way I see it.
Oh man, it's been in the 80's and 90's with humidity in my HOUSE… hotter outside… with humidity it feels like around the 110 mark.
Our city also had a smog alert at the same time, so people were advised to stay indoors as much as possible…
I feel sorry for people up north when a heat wave comes through. Down here in the south, central air is more or less common place, but it runs constantly.
I haven't played much of anything lately. Just randomly picking games out and seeing if it strikes the right chord or not. I put in Dark Sector and found out there was a patch available since early 2009.
I hope there is a demo for vanquish. I don't get excited over fps's but I'm always willing to try it out. I'm not a fan of the genre, but I believe someone will make one, one day, that I'll play.
This is one rare case where I hope that they make the Dragon Age 2 fighting a bit more actiony. Loved that first game but it took twenty years from the time you hit a button till something happens.
I'm not stoked for Vanquish at all, looks like it might be fun after a few beers at an Arcade for about a half hour but otherwise nah.
So Ben I doubt your goofy goggles are gonna come down much in price between now and when you play GT5 with them. Sorry man.
Playin WET, with better graphics and tighter controls that game could have been a lot more than it is, but I'm enjoying it anyway. Perfect Tarantino ripoff in action. Got a new super soft recliner too, so I'm having very late and comfortable nights with Fallout 3.
Despite all the critism, I actually really liked WET! Because of the grindhouse feel to the game, I was more then willing to let the visual side slide. I must get back into that game. The only thing that I didn't like in the game was how sometimes, in order to progress to the next level, you had to clear the assault course within the time limit. But the soundtrack and the gun play went well I thought and it certainly is in my opinion very enjoyable.
I quite agree, and the style is the real star here after all. The game oozes style. I am not a fan of the courses either because the fluidity of the action isn't at the level it needs to be to clear those challenges with grace. But I like it and it was worth the small price I paid. I also like Eliza Dushku's voice as Rubi. Not sure why reviewers didn't like the car chase sequences, I loves em.
Oh and don't let Ben hear me sayin this but WET is better than Bayonetta.
Wet was half-broken. Bayonetta is the best pure example of action of the generation…and I'm hardly the only reviewer to agree with that analysis. 😉
If action is the standard then yes I agree, and I know I'm on the outside of this argument, but while Wet gives you a legitimate Grindhouse experience with the story and characters you'd expect, Bayonetta had awful characters with poor designs, ridiculous enemies, and a horrible storyline. Nothing like what I expected from the DMC creator. Which is why I think Mikami is slipping and you all might be tired of Vanquish after a half hour.
edit: oh yeah, and the less said about the floating-chunks-of-land-in-space level designs the better.
Last edited by WorldEndsWithMe on 7/11/2010 12:26:16 AM
Those levels worked exceedingly well and everything else you speak of is purely subjective. I knew it was supposed to be over-the-top cheesy innuendo and they hit that mark, IMO. Everything was so beautifully done in terms of hardcore action…I've never seen a more in-depth or more refined mechanic.
The rest…yeah, well, it is personal preference.
We shall differ then.
Have you got a psp go ben and would you recommend a purchase?
I don't have a PSP Go and I might recommend one if you like hi-tech gadgets with digital software. If you already have a PSP…I dunno. Maybe wait for the PSP2.
They are pretty fun to mess with, it replaced my iTouch 8 GB 3G. The handling of the device is quite ergonomic though will require some getting used to if you are moving from the 1000 or 2000 or 3000. The onboard memory is an excellent welcomed feature for obvious reasons. Bluetooth is a very nice though overlooked feature IMO, the tethering and headsets work very well and all standard BT accessories (at least the ones I've tried) have paired nicely. As far as games go, if you have a decent array of newer UMDs and don't really feel like upgrading keep your former unit (assuming you have one) as a back up and for your UMDs of course. To wrap it al up it is a great little device that offers portability and decent specs to match. I say go for it if your a newcomer to the PSP market or if you have a older system and don't want to repurchase games don't go for it unless it offers something you really need or want. Note: screen size and feel WILL be a deal breaker for most.
thanks, i might go for it later this week!
I should get commission haha if I at least had 20% commission on all the PSPs I sold to people I'd at least be able to have a new one LOL
About the sudden anticipation for Vanquish, and seemingly pervasive bandwagon effect, of course it didn't hurt that a distinguished and formerly Sony exclusive developer talked it up some, but without the exciting footage that was also provided in the John's article, for me, it might've well just been Insomniac making self-assuring and customer-reassuring reminders about their transition to multiplatform development. The fact is, the proof was in the pudding…(Platinum's pudding that is)…multiplatformers can rock the house, and Vanquish's demo shows that.
Although I had only completed the demo for Bayonetta, I was familiar enough with Platinum's over-the-top and heavily stylized action and gameplay, so I was curious as what they would do with a shooter. And much to my pleasant satisfaction, Platinum may very well have a mold-breaker. It's frenetic, it's fresh, and it's certainly worth keeping an eye out for now.
My gaming update…plowing through Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 on Master Ninja Mode..or probably more aptly worded, "crawling through" . Not since Sigma 1, have I played an action game soooo demanding of one's timing, problem-solving skills, focus, and perhaps insanity. I also finally picked me up a copy of Demon's Souls, and I feel I've been given good enough training for any possible challenge that waits for me at Boletaria. I'm playing some Uncharted 2 multiplayer, and I watched the new Predators movie today. A rather demure outing, falling short of the potential laden in it's core-elements, crew and cast; but agreeably better than the previous attempts at milking the franchise (AVP's).
Last edited by Shams on 7/10/2010 10:56:02 PM
Dang. I should have bought Singularity.
I'm pretty stoked to play Mikami's new game. I haven't played anything from him since Resident Evil 4. That game was a master piece in my opinion. One my of favorite in the series. I don't know how Capcom botched 5 so badly when they had 4 as their blue print.
Gaming update: Just got Platinum on inFamous about 5 minutes ago. WOOHOO!! Finally after a year. Those stunts were killer. Still playing Peace Walker of course. I don't have any new games to start. I suppose I'll finish playing Metroid Prime Echos then I plan on starting a new MGS4 game. Peace Walker has got me in the mood to play MGS4 again.
Congrats on the plat Jawk. Old Cole 4ever.
Thanks bud! Been trying forever it seems like. Glad I finally finished it.
While I think I'm over the fact Cole will not be the same, I still don't understand why they felt he needed to be changed so much. They should have kept is face and just added more detail and what ever minor changes they wanted. Real Cole is the best!
I'm mostly over it, until I see his skinny ass in an advertisement looking like he just blew LimitedVertigo, then I get upset again. But epic gameplay will win as always.
Hahaha! Miss Limited. 🙁
Funny, my wife said Real Cole looks like both an a-hole and a nice guy rolled into one. I told her she's right because it fits the theme of going good or evil. Then She said, and I quote "new Cole looks like a douche." haha
Everyone seems to think of a douche when they look at new Cole. It was comedy gold.
Last edited by Jawknee on 7/11/2010 12:37:48 AM