Ben-DutkaThis month is looking crazy…lots of games to handle and at least one or two I want to play for myself.
Early PS3 games "tainted" by negative press?
Ninja Theory raised an interesting "theory" this past week, as the developer said Heavenly Sword and other early PS3 titles suffered from negative press . Not so much about the games themselves, but more about the console. Back in 2007, the general word-of-mouth wasn't exactly positive and Sony was still in need of several price drops and the growing exclusive lineup to push hardware units. But I'm a little confused as to why chief designer Tameem Antoniades even mentioned it…what difference does it make now? And is it even true, considering that Heavenly Sword sold 1.5 million copies? It almost sounds as if he's making an excuse for the studio's decision to go multiplatform. But the position of the PS3 has changed just a tad since then, so what's he saying? That going through the negativity back then somehow scarred them? I guess I just don't comprehend the point of the statement.
Look, you don't need an excuse to go multiplatform. Money is money. And a small developer stands to make a whole lot more greenbacks if they go multi. So in 2007, the negative propaganda likely impacted software sales for the PS3. But it clearly didn't hurt Ninja Theory's game and it doesn't matter now. So…?
Bungie's done with Halo. …sounds about right
So the big news is that Activision/Bungie deal, and I'll be interested to see what emerges from that relationship. It's obviously a multiplatform title of some kind, and it's a big ol' "action IP" of some sort. Bungie cleared things up by saying they're finished with the Halo franchise , so that's that. And while I am someone who has played and completed every last Halo offering – including the lackluster ODST – I really don't mind in the slightest. I have high hopes for Halo: Reach , which I'll certainly play, but unless it's light years ahead of Halo 3 , I'm not sure I'll care that much. Killzone 2 is a glimpse of what FPSs can be in the new generation; Halo 3 was Halo 2 with slightly spiffier visuals. So I've been bored with that for a while. However, that being said, I still think Bungie is a really talented team and they're fully capable of delivering something pretty darn special. I just wonder when we might see the announcement…
Personal gaming update
I'm right at the end of God of War III and I've also been playing a lot of Nier , which I find very entertaining and even relaxing in some ways. It has its fair share of problems – as I outlined in my review – but I'm willing to overlook them because this is just my type of game (sans the traditional combat). I just like the way it's set up, that's all. Beyond this, I have Red Dead Redemption , Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands , and 3D Dot Game Heroes on tap for this month. I'm hoping to get them all from the publishers. Arnold should be handling ModNation Racers and Lost Planet 2 . Like I said, it's another busy four weeks coming up.
By the way, I'm still really surprised at the behavior of that GameStop employee . I know that kind of stupidity exists but it really can't be out in public. If you want to act like that, stick to some sort of fanboy forum hellhole. You don't mislead customers because you're a biased idiot. The good news is that I went back to the GameStop I usually go to today and sort of refreshed myself; the guys there are pretty cool. They're totally on board with the idea that Call of Duty is entirely played out, too, as they were laughing about how bored they were with the series. They say they have to tell everyone about the new Black Ops , and they have to "put on an excited face." LOL
See, it's not all GameStops. That's probably important to understand.
It's been a very interesting week, that's for sure! Did you finish FFXIII by the way Ben =D?
Oh yeah, that's been done for a while. I even spent another 25 hours trying to make myself into a God – maxing Crystarium, getting and maxing Legendary weapons and awesome accessories, etc. – but I got bored. I didn't really even feel all that strong with Strength and Magic stats at like 2500-3000 for my characters.
So…I'm done with it.
That right there tells me it's not worth more than $20 to me, because every final fantasy I've played before I've beaten multiple times.
I won't pay more than $20 for a game I'm going to be bored with on my first play.
The things is, I don't think maxing your characters out would be that bad if it weren't for the utterly pointless distances that They make you run to get from mission to mission to target. Talk about poor game design and a way to take the fun out of the post- game aspect.
kraygen: I'm only talking about optional stuff. The game itself is great.
I didn't mind the time I invested in grinding. That's one of the things I like to do. It was the fact that after I hunted Adamantoises for 4 days and maxed my characters out, they seemed only SLIGHTLY better than before. As I posted as a comment on an earlier article, the last time I beat VII, by the time I went to see Sephiroth, I beat him in two attacks like he was a little bitch. XIII does not give you that kind of power.
Maybe SE is trying to condition me for XIV?
yeah, i stopped playing too, im planning to keep playing after i beat resonance of fate. i only got a few trophies till i get platinum but maxing out doesnt help with anything. all i need to do is 5 star missions, farm gil and dark matters from adamantoises and shaolong and long guis.
That's nice to hear Ben, I hope you enjoyed the ending! I wish it had more exposition though (meaning, a bit more depth, I'd love to to delve into why, but I don't want to spoil anyone), and yah, I 100% completely agree with you, even after 40+ hours of grinding, my characters don't feel like gods/goddesses…I believe it has something to do with the monsters having insane amounts of HP (not all, but specific ones) and that staggering is so important.
I think the whole purpose of leveling up your characters immensely is that the stronger they are, the faster an enemy is staggered. I don't think the philosophy of the game was to make you kill enemies in 1 hit after you've grinded for what seems like an eternity.
I wish that was the case though….
Last edited by Victor321 on 5/2/2010 11:48:46 AM
Oh, I loved the ending. As I've been saying all along, the game is great.
But as for the rest, yes, I know it's about quick staggering but IMO, that only emphasizes the downfalls of this combat mechanic.
Personal Gaming update: My dog has ruined yet another console. My Wii! My dog knocked over a glass of milk all over the Wii. It was so bad it wouldn't turn on. I was like "Meh, its just the Wii" but I remembered that I NEED to have a Wii in time for SMG2. But anyway I've been playing quite a bit of Uncharted 2 since the seige DLC launched. I'm also playing Killzone at the moment and I'm only 4 trophies away till I platinum Heavy Rain.
I have SMG2 on preorder I think I would die a little inside if my Wii broke this month
I so feel your pain right now, my cousin broke my wii and i needed in time for SMG2 too. =( The good thing is, i can get a black wii (if its real) sometime in may with motionplus and sports resort for 200$.
BigMidget… Understandably you are upset, however this leads me to a broader comment on why console failure may be higher than they should be.
I think at least a 1/3rd of failure rates are due to hardware being damaged by the user, without the user even realising it.
Problems an owner could create such as:
1) Moving the equipment about, banging it and not being gentle with it can cause unneccessary vibrations. This in turn could weaken or dislodge components on the motherboards and misaligh laser heads in drives.
2) Major issue is not enough ventilation. Console vents clogged with dust and not cleaned regularly. Also consoles stuffed inbetween other objects on shelves where ventilation is almost non-existant. Consoles pushed up to close to walls or in small areas trapping heat. (Heat being one of the main causes of failures)
3) Putting consoles on carpeted floors, full fo dust and hair. This has great potential for damage over time… again, heat related.
4) Leaving consoles where pets can get to them. BigMidget, this should have not happened to you… it's obvious too keep this equipment stowed up somewhere high, out of way, unless your dog regularly climbs your shelves.
5) Any foods or liquids standing next to your console is suicide, why do it and take the risk.
6) Use decent quality fuse extender plugs for added surge protection.
7) Space and height around your equipment is a must…
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
Last edited by Qubex on 5/2/2010 1:27:30 AM
u should have known better than try to switch it on until it was completely dry bro :(, at least its the wii 🙂
Qubex, you forgot the most important part of not putting equipment on the carpet. Static electricity.
Lowkey, that is true, thanks for the suggestion 🙂
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
personal gaming update: i beat god of war 3 on normal. i also found what i call girlfriend mode. its where i put on all the godly possesions and put it on easy. then she can play the game. now she is actually playing god of war 3 instead of complaining about it. after a while she wanted more of a challenge so she said take off the possesions. she is doing just fine other then not being able to double jump. she just doesnt understand it.
i also have been back in mag a lot. level 32 sniper now. had a really good round of sabotage where i went 13 kills 0 deaths and 4 assists.
i also picked up the pixel junk deal with the 3 games from the psn. pretty good stuff. havent had time to play them much though.
Last edited by frylock25 on 5/1/2010 10:47:42 PM
I'm all about some Red Dead Redemption and Modnation this month. I really want to get into Dot Hero, but it's going to have to wait for a while. Can't make up my mind on Lost Planet, so I am looking forward to the review.
RDR is look so damn OMFG promising and awesome.
If there's a game that's gonna be at least the equal to UC2(Who knows, it could surpass UC2) , I'd say it could be RDR, I heard that RDR has been in development for 5 years has it?
Now as for Ninja Theory…..perhaps they see their 1.5 million copies HS sold as a failure compared to Motorstorm which sold 4 million if I'm not mistaken.
In my personal news…..due to financial problems, I had to delay my PS3 purchase till July…….
Wow. I don't have that high of hopes for RDR, but I always like being surprised. It looks like this year has a lot left to offer, though.
My high hopes came from the long development time and because it's Rockstar. And also from all the amazing footage I've been watching.
Hell, given the amount of same time, I can't imagine what ND can come up with when UC2 only took them 2 years………
Last edited by Snaaaake on 5/1/2010 11:46:34 PM
yeah, i dont put hope in games that take long to develop anymore. i mean free radical created golden eye and then they gave us HAZE.
UPDATE: I fixed my PS3's YLOD!!!!
woohoo!! 😀
Woo! congrats
that is qwarktastic!!
Thanks 🙂
man i hope that nobody else has to deal with that. even tho its not too difficult to fix, its still a major pain in the a$$!
And now I need your phone number in case mine ever does it again……..
Awesome 🙂
Gratz Qwarktast1c!
You're a bloody legend Qwark!
How did you do this?
@ Neohumpty
LOL!
@ FullmetalX10 & Banky A
thanks 🙂
@ Akuma07
i followed the youtube guide from a guy named gilksy (U DA MAN GILKSY!!! :D)
i already had a heat gun so i didn't have 2 buy one
bought some arctic silver 5
and just followed along with the vid
for the heat gun it needs to be @ 350 C (662 F)
mine goes 300 C or 500 C. 500 is WAY too much so i just did 300 for a few extra seconds than what he says in the vid
I actually really enjoyed Halo 3 over Halo 2, and I thought it served as more of the spiritual successor to the first game.
I can't imagine Bungie doing something to far removed from what they're known for. I expect another FPS after the manner of a Halo.
I think what's most interesting is the timing for Bungie this time around. Halo was born on a platform with new and powerful processing. It was the go-to game for early Xbox adopters that sort of cultivated a small culture of MS gamer. Later MS launched XBox Live, and so, once again, Bungie got to lean on a new paradigm for Halo 2.
What will be the spring board be this time? I don't want to suggest that Halo has been nothing more than lucky timing, as it was also a great game. But I feel a good magnitude of it's success can be attributed to a synergetic outcome and not by it's design merits alone.
I'm curious to see how a latecomer new IP will do entering into a crowded genre of similar games.
I have been wondering, what ever happened to that game with the teddy bears that murder each other. I can't remember what that was called. Also when is this big secret PS3 exclusive coming?
Oh, yeah. It wasn't that fairy tale game, was it? I remember thinking that I wanted it.
Naughty Bear. Wait for the reviews.
its called naughty bear
You are the bear, Manbearpig.
And the irony is that NeoHumpty said 'Fairytales' in his comment somewhere haha.
😉
Thanks guys, I will be a naughty ManBearPig.
Gaming update: I played more video games XD
my gaming update: I've already beaten white knight chronicles, FF13, heavy rain, god of war series, and bad company 2. Working on resonance of fate.
I cant believe that gamestop employee was such a douche. I actually want to throw that dog dropping grenade i picked up on resonance of fate. yes, there was actually an item on resonance of fate called dog dropping with a grenade icon next to it. I just want to know if anyone else got it. i opened up a lot of hexes and only found 1 of it. hahaha
Yeah I've picked up a lot (in the game that is). You'll run across more. I haven't thrown it at anybody yet, but it's supposed to do psychological damage only.
its pretty funny that they tell you to conserve your hero points but then if you dont use it then you have a pretty small chance of winning. especially when they only give you 3 to start.
I think Ninja Theory is hedging their bets because they know Enslaved is going to suck balls. I wonder what fanboys will do without Halo? Maybe they will get another studio to make it. And Gears 3 will be the end of that series probably too. Sad for xbots.
This week my PS3 can beat up your PS3 because it now has a 500GB hard drive in it. Of course, even though my trophies were supposed to sync with PSN they sorta kinda vanished for Dante's Inferno as soon as I put the game in. I assume they will vanish for the rest of my games too. I'd go back and find the problem if I cared about trophies but meh.
I've been playing Bayonetta, and wow that game is stupid. No idea why you liked it so much Ben. But by God I'm gonna get my $30 worth and finish it.
Last edited by WorldEndsWithMe on 5/2/2010 12:34:59 AM
I'd put $50 on it not being the end of Halo. Again, I've never played any of them, but I think that some new blood may do it some good. From what I hear about the last two, the franchise could use it.
And our ps3's tie because mine has the same HD. I mostly use my external for movies and music, though.
It's odd to me that your trophies aren't showing up. If you log on to the PS website or check your profile, are they just gone?
I liked it because has the single most refined, challenging, and diverse action mechanic of the generation.
Hoooray for upgradeable HDDs!!!
Hope to one day get me a hard drive that big.
@ WorldEnds – I had that happen to me too when I swapped hard drives. I'd put a game in and the trophies would show up as 0%. Somehow the trophy sync didn't recognize what games I had played. Turns out I just had to play the games that were missing trophies and then sync again.
Hope it's the same for you.
You are right Alien, after playing for a bit they are magically back!
I know we already had this argument Ben and maybe I'm retarded but I find that fighting mechanic to be a mess compared to Heavenly Sword's or Devil May Cry's. It's cool though, we shall differ this time.
Last edited by WorldEndsWithMe on 5/2/2010 2:41:06 AM
Interesting observation World, I found the Bayonetta gameplay ok'ish when messing about with the demo. What drove you to buy the dang title? Heavenly Sword I have not finished yet because I cannot get passed one section… are there any cheats for it?
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
Well I bought it because I was on the prowl for games going cheap and the darn thing pulled down so many 9s I didn't think I could go wrong. I mean it's okay and everything but as a rival to GOW, Dante's, or DMC, it isn't fit to wipe their arses.
I don't think HS has any cheats, but if you tell me where you are stuck I bet I can help.