Ben-DutkaI despise summer and this one seems to be taking an eternity to pass by. I used to hate the snow and ice more but now…not so sure.
Twisted Metal single-player is gonna rule
It's true; Jaffe really didn't explain it very well at Comic Con but after clarifying, I'm super excited about the single-player aspect of Twisted Metal . At first, it sort of sounded like there'd only be three available characters but I think we were all assuming it'd be exactly like past entries. You know, pick a car and go through the same levels and do the same things, all in an effort to see a different ending. But obviously, Eat Sleep Play has moved past that old-fashioned idea and plan to give us a lot more. Each campaign will boast three characters, three bosses, eight levels and "unique level type and play types." You can pick any of the 16 cars to get through the campaign, while some levels will require the use of a certain character. He even mentioned garages, which he didn't elaborate on but sound very, very cool…will we be able to upgrade those death-dealing vehicles? Switch vehicles in mid-level?
Lastly, he says that we can expect more than just regular deathmatch in each single-player level. There will be "unique modes, goals and challenges" to tackle throughout each campaign, so it's not just about taking either Dollface, Sweet Tooth or Mr. Grimm through the same game over and over. The whole thing just sounds totally awesome.
Still not sure I understand Ninja Theory
Don't get me wrong. I'm a big fan of Heavenly Sword and I had hoped for a sequel. I know Ninja Theory is a highly competent developer just based on that one game, and I have high expectations for Enslaved: Odyssey to the West . But every time I read a business-related update for the studio, I always come away confused. So they recently said they're not expecting to make a sequel to their newest project "unless it's a gigantic hit," and they're not even anticipating a run-away success. They still say they didn't make enough money with HS after it sold 1.5 million copies on the PlayStation 3 back in 2007, when there was a small fraction of the PS3's in the world now. So what do they want from Enslaved for it to be considered a "gigantic hit?" What, do they need like 5 or 6 million sold? 1.5 million for each console obviously won't be enough, especially when there are more 360s out there.
I certainly understand why they'd want to go multiplatform. It's rational and logical unless you fully intend on pushing the limits of the PS3 like Naughty Dog, Guerrilla, etc. But they don't seem to be explaining this move very well, that's all.
Personal gaming update
I should have Alan Wake soon and I'll finally start Super Mario Galaxy 2 this week. This past week has been a little too crazy to start anything new; all I've really done recently is complete another play-through of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night – which is always fun – and I reviewed Little League World Series 2010 . …eh. Beyond that, I might do a hands-on of the Kane & Lynch 2 demo this coming week, and I'll be looking forward to playing Mafia II in August.
For now, I just want the heat to go away. As for my most recent editorial , I'm very glad we have a community that can respond intelligently to something that matters a lot to me. When we first started the Comments some years ago, I knew from the start we'd have to be vigilant if we didn't want it to turn into every other site. But I really think that vigilance has paid off. Thanks. 🙂
I'm glad that theres more than 3 character in Twisted Metal. Btw I'm expecting God of War 3 soon in the mail, so I should be tackling that soon….I don't know why I'm telling people that, I'm just excited.
Trust me; you will not be disapointed 🙂
I don't expect to be
I know, I want thumper and outlaw
Ninja Theory, at least, are honest about their wanting to make money but the garbage about Heavenly Sword not selling does bother me. The game sold 1.5 million on the PS3 and they were still selling it at full price as of May 2010 (I used it in a trade 2 for Red Dead Revolver) so they made maximum profit.
Something tells me that someday these guys are going to join up with Activision.
Still, I will probably purchase Enslaved. I loved Heavenly Sword. The guys at Ninja Theory have talent.
I've had Alan Wake for over a month since buying it for $40 CAN off of Kijiji but I haven't had time to even start. Just too many other games ahead of it. There's nothing I'm going to buy for sometime so there's really no rush.
Last edited by n/a on 7/24/2010 10:18:59 PM
I plan on picking up Mafia II on day 1. untell then I'm going to go through RDR again and try to get more trophies. other then that I can't wait for this fall and expecialy early 2011. So many games coming I want, but the one that i am most excited about and going to put the most hours in is GT5.
Ninja Theory are very confusing. I really can't understand them, and if they've been working on this game since Heavenly Sword that's about 3 and a half years of work. Even if they had 100 people working on it all that time, I can't see them spending more than $50-60 million on the thing. If that's the total spend, they should be able to break even on 2.5-3 million copies sold. So, is that the definition of gigantic hit?
Personal gaming update, I was into the home stretch finishing off Star Ocean 4, when the family decided they wanted to watch the play through so they could see the story. So I am obliging them, but it meant starting over….at least this time I'll know what *not* to do.
I got my wife a copy of Sakura Wars So Long My Love for the PS2, she is liking it so far. It's a relatively slow game by current gen standards. Even though it's combat system isn't the most dynamic thing in the world, and the plot is nothing short of preposterous, it's fun, the voice acting is good and it's right up your ally if you like Anime, SRPGs japanese dating sim games, and then general silliness of a slightly whacky Anime series.
I have too many games to buy and play, and more coming. I'll have to focus really hard on actually playing some next week…
Finished Heavy Rain this week and started Darksiders, then will play A.C.2 or MGS4.
Like you Ben I wish the heat would go away, it has been around 98-103 for the last five days and according to the 7 day forcast no end in sight.
screw the heat i think i will stay inside and stare at your avatar 😉
Its almost like NT is trying to justify going multi-plat a little too hard. Thats what it sounds like to me.
As for my games this month,Im going retro. Here are the 5 I picked.
Chaos Legion
SteamBot Chronicles
Star Ocean Till the End of Time
Way of the Samurai 2
Mana Khemia Alchemists of Al-Revis
Its going to be a long month. 🙂
Last edited by GuardianMode on 7/24/2010 10:58:18 PM
Is there anywhere in the world where the temperature is 68 degree's year round, cloudy, and the grass doesn't grow taller than 2 inches? If there is someone tell me so I can move there, because I'm tired of the heat and tired of mowing my yard in the heat.
I'm still chugging away at ff9, 70 hours in and I still like it, but it won't be in my top 5 final fantasy games. It's probably the first ff I've played where I absolutely hate most of the mini games, it's just a chore and no fun.
I won't need to buy a game for a while because I recently used my gamestop gift card and some sale codes on their website to nab 4 rpgs with only $7 out of pocket. Never played any of them, but they all seem to have gotten good reviews.
Dark cloud and Dark cloud 2, WKC was my first level 5 game and I am looking forward to trying out these old games because WKC is easily my fav rpg this gen.
LOTR The third age, I generally like lotr, most of their games are bad, but a turn based rpg sounds great and got decent reviews.
Last I got wild arms 3, I have not played either of the first 2 but they are available on the psn and a friend already purchased the 2nd one, so I'll be able to play the first 3 for less than $10, can't beat that.
Many hours of rpg goodness await me and I'm excited. Gotta love my b/c ps3.
Also want to say how much I've enjoyed the articles and comments here at psx over the last few months since I joined. Great group of intelligent ppl who know how to have a great debate.
Thanks Ben for giving us a great place to talk about things we enjoy.
Doesn't FF IX have the card game mini-game? Where when you win you get your opponenets cards? I really liked that mini-game.
For the record, and I know others will disagree, I hated Blitzball. It could have been the most fun mini-game ever. But I hated the fact that I would be past the defenders and then when I went to take the shot it would let like 2 of them get in front of me in true turn-based style.
Goodtimes.
Last edited by SvenMD on 7/25/2010 6:58:06 AM
Yeah I wasn't that fond of blitzball either, I liked it, but it wasn't my favorite. As for the card game in 9, Not sure if you're remembering it or the card game from 8. The card game in 8 I absolutely loved. You could win others cards by beating them same as card game in 9.
However the card game in 9 makes no sense. Your card shows an attack number, attack type, physical defense number, and a magic defense number.
When you attack another card tho, it puts some random number on the center of the cards and then they both start to subtract until one card number reaches 0, that card loses.
Thing is I lose all the time when I attack. Even if I attack with a card that has say a physical attack of 4 against 0 physical defense and their card has a magic attack of 1 and mine has a magic defense of 3. Often the numbers that appear in the middle of the card are something like this.
Mine will have about a 43 and their number will be 6, the numbers start subtracting and I lose. How does that make sense. It happens almost every time. The card game makes no sense, I have looked up guides for it and they all have the same ruleset as in the game, but the cards don't seem to follow the rules. Very frustrating.
8's card game worked in a similar fashion, but it actually worked and I got all the cards on it very early on in the game, I loved it.
Exactly right it WAS VIII….it's been too long. But I loved that card game. I did spend hours just running around Balamb Garden playing that card game.
Thanks for setting me straight!
In fact, I don't remember ANY mini-games from IX. Interesting.
that might be because all the mini games from IX suck.
Frog catching, get real boring real fast.
Chocobo digging, your beak has to be in the exact right location and it's easy to be near it and never find it, annoying as all get out.
The card game, senseless nonsense is all it is. I went back this afternoon and tried some more, but after losing with an attack of 85 to their defense of 18 and losing, I decided no more cards.
The card game in IX was extremely complex. If your high offense lost to low defense, it's because your card was weak to the enemy card. (The letters make a difference.)
As for blitzball, I would recruit a super fast swimmer, and make them swim around and near every opponent. Once I got the whole team to follow him, I'd pass to my best shooter who's wide open. lol. Easy trick only hard to do against the fast moving Guado.
Actually underdog I explained that I know what each of the letters mean. The game simply doesn't follow it's own rules. If my card is set up like this 5×43 and their card looks like this 2p10, how can you explain my loss?
My card attacks the lowest number with an attack of 5, which would be 5 to 0, it has no defense against my card and it has a physical attack of 2 which my card has a defense of 4. How is it that I lose that?
I didn't want to go over all the rules, but I'm just saying I know how to play the card game, it's not really all that complex. The game simply doesn't follow its own rules.
As I don't have a console with me I am currently improving my solitaire skills. It's rather dull.
However Twisted Metal I'll keep an eye on, it sounds like a fun game to play someone against. I'm not a multiplayer fan, that mainly being my skills do not compare with the lightening speed actions of most online gamers.
I have become totally and utterly obsessed with Persona 3 Portable. It has utterly derailed all my gaming that I was doing uptil this point. That even includes Peace Walker.
It has been a long time that I have played such a unapologetic japanese game. After playing persona 3, I really feel no need whatsoever to even bother playing XIII. SE can go screw themselves, or I'll buy second hand, either way, I'm not supporting what they've done with final fantasy financially after seeing what other developers are doing.
I now need to track down everything persona, including the anime and ill even replay persona 3 on the ps2 😀
Don't forget Persona 4, another great title.
world, was it just as addictive as persona 3? my ps2 crapped out before i had a chance to play it
I finally got around to playing Infamous this month. Just got my platinum last week, and am so very stoked for the sequel now. Especially now that they've removed the Nathan Drake look alike.
Now I'm stuck wondering what I should get next. I'll either go for Killzone 2 or GoW 3. I tried but never got much into the first two GoW's, but did like the psp release. But the sale at Gamestop on GoW is pulling me in that direction. Suggestions?
NeoHumpty, Killzone 2 is a must if you are not sure about GoWIII…
It is a great collectors' piece…
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
*Currently in Tokyo, Japan
So is there going to be a set of 3 characters in each campaign?
…And a unique ending for each one on each of the 3 difficulty levels for a total of 9 endings.
Twisted Metal and KZ3 might have some serious fighting to do over next years goty award, never mind all the other great games expected for 2011 like Horizon, inFamous2, Deadspace2, heck maybe even Dues Ex will turn out to be amazing. It certainly seems as if the vigilance payed off, due to the intelligent and decent people who follow PSX. I refuse to post under any comment section on most sights never mind involve myself in the forums, but I haven't seen a single moronic self important idiot randomly spouting senseless insults on every article about meaningless things. Which, let's face it, you see quite a bit of on other sites. Just got to the second castle in CSotN myself, messed w. my head a bit at first but I'm getting used to it.. all that inverted nonsense 🙂 Also looking forward to Mafia II and am still skeptical on the whole Enslaved thing. I think it will be a decent game but not to the extent that everybody seems to be expecting.
Mafia II should be very good…
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
*Currently in Tokyo, Japan
Did Ninja Theory outfit their studio (computer equipment and all that) with Heavenly Sword money? Did Weta Workshop's aid really cost that much?
I mean, hell, I would have thought Ninja Theory would have made *some* money with well over a million copies sold. No matter what they say, 1.5 million games sold–for a new IP, from a new developer–is something to be proud of.
Finished NGS2 on Master Ninja Mode. But, after seeing some youtube vids of Team Challenge Co-op missions that I've yet to play, I still feel like a total noob (one mission involves you and your partner fighting Volf, Alexei, Elizebet, and Zedonius, 3 at the same time where one grab is enough to spell death).
But I can't wait anymore. I'm off to Demon's Souls. Wish me good luck, and a full head of hair.
Master Shams, seeing that you still have hair from besting NGS2 on Master Ninja you'll probably do fine up against any challenge from all of those other, ninja-inferior, games.
I powered up NGS2 the other day, and as a crappy reminder all of my previous saved progress was lost due to having to buy a replacement PS3 for my launch model that croaked. Now, in order to play Master Ninja difficulty I would have to go through Warrior and Mentor again.
BTW those upper-level co-op missions are insanely hard.
Insanely-Insanely
Brother Temjin, I'm far from the master. Difficulty is relative, and Master Ninja Mode in the story mode is a walk in the park compared to the other challenges that awaits one in the game. But no sweat about replaying the other difficulties. I think they're more fun.
Snow and Ice? Where can I get some of that? It's been raining all week, and will be doing the same all next week too. Oh well, at least I'm inside at work, and at least it's nice and cool.
I'll make sure to keep my eye on Twisted Metal. Considering that there are essentially nine different campaigns, each one lasting eight hours, should be pretty damn good, even if there are only three playable characters.
I think all ex-exclusive developers are a little bit confusing, why sacrifice quality for sales? Oh, that's right they're in business. (Joke, not a jab.)
I think that it's good that they aren't thinking of a sequel unless they sell a **ckton of copies of Enslaved (I keep thinking it's called Odyssey for some reason.), I mean, they've already announced DLC haven't they? Besides it's based off an old Japanese story called Monkey, and most stories end themselves I find. The reason, I think, that Ninja Theory are looking at it requiring a "gigantic hit" to do a sequel, is that they have already begun production (or pre-production) on a new IP, thus not necessarily wanting to do a sequel as it would detract from that other game. I hope so anyway.
But, I'm calling this right now, Enslaved will sell more copies on the PS3. I'm thinking, 1.7million against 1.2million, over the first six months of sales, with an aggressive marketing campaign.
Personal Update.
I found that a couple of sequences needed to be addded before I could finish my current chapter, which means that it'll take at least another week and I'm really started to get bored with it. Lester annoys me.
I'm about a third of the way through Love in the Time of Cholera, and really enjoying it. Kind of funny when one of the backpackers at work looks over my shoulder, reads a bit, and wonders what the hell it's all about (He read Marquez's analogy of sex smelling like a salt pit full of prawns).
Still plugging through Valkyria Chronicles. Just finished Chapter 15 about an hour ago. I don't think I'm going to finish it until next weekend, but if I do, I'm going to continue playing Demon's Souls and Final Fantasy, and compliment them with another spin of ICO, or maybe Heavenly Sword. All this talk of Enslaved makes me feel like playing that again. Eh, whatever.
Oh, and the catalogue I've got lists Transformers: War for Cybertron at $50 AUD, wasn't that only released about a fortnight ago, cos that's really cheap, even though I have no intention of buying it. Just thought I'd put that out there.
Also, I'm going to watch 2001 for the first time sometime this week.
I know, I'm rambling and you're all sick of it. Freedom of speech and all that cal though.
Peace.
P.S. I got an avatar. It's temporary though. I'll put another one up when I get back to my computer next… About three weeks away I think.
Umm, no, it's based from China, not Japan.
NT is working on a new IP? Last rumor I heard they were working on DMC5…
Thankyou. I did know that, I was a bit frazzled by being insulted by a random Xbot on another site. You are correct, sir.
Peace.
Kangasfwa, no they probably aren't, but here's hopin'.
Peace.
I've been busy with DeathSpank and Fat Princess lately, and I must say, they are some of the BEST downloadable titles I have ever played. Still working my way through DeathSpank. I pre-ordered the LBP 2 CE as well, and I recently got the platinum for InFamous.
I'm skeptical of Ninja Theory's new game myself. Not so much that it's a multi-plat, but it really doesn't seem all that interesting. At times when viewing vids of it I see some moments of, "hey, that looks pretty cool," but the overall impression I'm sensing is a luke-warm one.. Especially, when I consider how un-likely that it will be for Ninja Theory to dig deep with Cell processing augmentation like many of the more recently developed PS3-only games.
I know there's a lot of love on these boards for Heavenly Sword, but from someone who finally got around to playing it earlier this year, I'm compelled to say that I didn't think the game was all that great. Positive elements were definitely the presentation, and voice acting. You can tell the game cost a lot to produce and it has some moments that are pretty epic. But their were several game design elements, everything from some questionable combat conventions (I have to shake the controller mid-combo, really?), to erratic, and oftentimes sluggish frame-rate (a major no-no for me and intense action games), which cumulatively really hindered my enjoyment.
Perhaps, seeing that many games don't age so well over time (especially first-gen ones), people's memory of the game is better than my current experience having recently played it so recently. I just hope Ninja Theory has evolved themselves and will make a more enjoyable experience their next go around.
Is GT5 going to be worldwide release on November 2nd?
i really hope so, but doubt it!
EB game and JBHIFI here have it penciled in as november 18th so im guessing thats the date.
one retailer get it wrong, ok.
two ok.
but three?
thats highly unlikely!
in fact i dont think sony have ever done a worldwide release have they?
The release date for GT5 outside of the US hasn't been announced yet. I thought Nov. 2 was worldwide… Guess I'd better amp down my excitement a mite.
Peace.
@Snaaaake no that is just the NA release date. Us Europeans will probly get it a month later(as usual) *sigh*
Personal Gaming Update:
I'm on a bit of a gaming drought at the moment. Just playing manager mode on FIFA 10 while thinking of giving Batman:AA another run through.
Played the Kane and Lynch demo yesterday and thinking of picking it up. The game has massive potential, but I just feel it will turn out into a glitch filled mess.fingers crossed it doesn't!
IIRC the Euro & Asia date for GT5 is November 16.
It's probably just me who has missed it at some point but what happened to the PS3 exclusive being revealed in July? There's a week left of the month, I know but still.
Wasn't that supposed to have been Twisted Metal? If I remember rightly, Ben said that having it announced at E3 meant nothing to look forward to this month (something along those lines).
Peace.
Twisted Metal was the secret PS3 exclusive they couldn't talk about.
Square-Enix was also supposed to have some big reveal this month. I don't know if they said that or not.
im really excited for TM i really miss car combat games.
but only 8 levels!
come on, i really hope this game takes me more than 8 hours to finish!
games are getting WAY! to short these days, what happened to the good old days where they use to take 15 – 20 hours to finish and that was just the story mode, not to mention side missions and stuff!
look at assassins creed 2, it takes a good 15 hours to finish the story, than another good 10 hours or so to find all the feathers, solve all the glyphs, find all the codex pages, than theres assassination and side missions too!
to finish everything in AC2 will take at least 35 hours!!!!!!!
as for ninja theory whats not to understand?
there getting greedy like every other developer out there!
im sorry, but if your disappointed with 1.5M units sold when the ps3 had such a small install base thats just down right unreasonable and selfish!
theres developers out there who would kill for there game to sell that much!
agreed heavenly sword deserved to sell more than that, it deserved to sell at least 3M units its a fantastic game!
but very few games sell as much as they deserve too!
if they did, uncharted 2 and heavy rain would of sold 20M units by now!
Dude, get it right. One campaign of Twisted Metal is eight levels. There are three separate campaigns (or nine if you prefer to count each difficulty level as Eat, Sleep, Play seems to want us to), ergo there should be at least twenty four levels. Is that enough to sate you?
But yes, sales of good games certainly seem to lack when you look at Halo and CoD. "Oh no he di'int!"
Peace.
Question.
Just because some P.O.S. game like ODST can sell multi-million copies to sheeple, does that mean that a truly tremendous game, such as Heavy Ran, that sells perhaps half the number is somehow less good than the P.O.S. selling to millions of sheeple? No, it doesn't. Which is precisely why using sales numbers as an indicator of a game's quality if a fallacy and should *never* be done, no matter how seductive an argument is made.
@Highlander
CoD: MW2 case in point? lol