Ben-DutkaApologies for not getting this up a little sooner – I know y'all are used to it going up around 10:30 or so – but I was out.
Okay, so there's a lot going on with Vanquish…
Not only is it in the news a lot, but the very structure and style – that whole " Gears of War on crack" description seems to fit – really looks over-the-top bad-ass. Shinji Mikami is one of the industry's best and I suppose we have to forgive Platinum Games for their Bayonetta PS3 transgression. After all, they evidently used Sony's machine as the lead dev platform for Vanquish . So some of you may be assuming the PS3 version will be superior, but Platinum has just recently said they can't tell the difference between the two versions . Now, I see it this way: they didn't want to make the mistake of making one version better than the other (it's really unfair to the other half), and perhaps the reason they started with the PS3 this time is because it's easier to tackle the more difficult platform first…that makes sense, right? I mean, I could be wrong, but I just like to think the designers are taking the correct route.
I really hope the game turns out to be as much fun as it looks. I am a fan of Gears , even if it's not my favorite series in the world, and the speed and constant immersion via rapid-fire insanity could prove to be awesome. Guess it's just another of those wait-and-see situations. By the way, in addition to our upcoming Q&As with Insomniac and Tecmo , we may also try to set something up with Platinum.
Striving for perfection is always admirable
There's a damn good reason why guys like Hideo Kojima and Kazunori Yamauchi are so well respected, and are so well known for producing masterpieces in our industry: it's because they're perfectionists. In any walk of life, that trait is admirable (and in all honesty, we don't have anywhere near enough people who sport that trait). This is why I'm awfully encouraged to hear the Bioshock creators say they were really unhappy with the way their game came out. They were pretty harsh, in fact. Obviously, the best part is the contrast; the fact that most all critics and gamers were nothing but appreciative and heaped praise upon the award-winning game. And yet, the guys who made it were like, "bah, we could've done better." Now, their mindset is, "we could've done better and we will do better with Bioshock Infinite ." This is why I'm telling you that game will be unbelievable and you'll be missing out if you don't play it.
Yup, I'll go out on that limb. Why? I know the first two titles were fantastic and better yet – the kicker – I know Irrational's philosophy. That's enough for me.
Personal gaming update
I've completed Alan Wake and I'm plenty happy with it. Certainly a more "cerebral game" than most others and although it isn't anything like Heavy Rain in terms of gameplay, I still believe the same type of gamers would appreciate Remedy's great psychological thriller. I know the game sold badly, but it seems as if the devs wanted to stick with it and make a sequel, and I really hope they do…if they do, though, as I believe Microsoft owns the IP, it'll never come to the PS3. I'm not saying Alan Wake or the addition of a sequel would make owning a 360 worthwhile (if that's all you wanted for it), but if you're already a 360 owner, I say you gotta try. I never went back to Super Mario Galaxy 2 and I just can't; I don't want to get into it, but I just can't put it on the upper tier of current gaming. Sorry.
You should see a Shank review late Monday, and you should also see a Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions review towards the end of the week. After that is Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. 2 and personally, I will buy Halo: Reach . I've played and completed ever Halo and I'll play this one, too…but fair warning, Microsoft: if you don't give me something new this time around, I'm done with the series. The good news is that it seems a lot of Reach really should feel fresh. We'll see.
Isn't reach supposed to be the last in the series anywayz, with bungie going on to do new thigns now?
Also wow, didn't think y'all do a Shank review, that'd be cool, I really want to know how great the co-op portion is, cause me and a friend wanted to try it, but we didn't know if it was worth the $ for it, since others said it was short/lacking.
And thirdly, I find it interesting that you like the whole speed and insanity of Vanquish when we're always talking about how the whole action/speed/explosions thing is what's killing our gaming experiences with twitch gamers, hmm, but i guess it's more of we just hate seeing our specific genres (rpg, strat. etc.) getting messed up because of those reasons.
If I remember correctly, Halo: Reach is the last Halo game by Bungie. But Microsoft would be passing the development responsibilities to another team, so there would still be Halo games afer Reach.
There's a big difference between exclusively playing shooters and enjoying what appears to be a different take on a common formula. Twitch-gamers ONLY play certain types of games an in all honesty, I bet Vanquish will be too challenging for some of them.
Besides, it ain't an FPS so that right there eliminates about 95% of those twitchers. 😉
Ah yes, I forgot it was TPS for a moment, my head's been fuzzy all day, that does make it a little different. So yeah, tons of people going to complain that it's not as good as MW2 or something just because they can't get the hang of it, ah well, I'm anticipating that demo though.
And ah I see, I should have realized myself Microsoft wouldn't let Halo die, do you know which team is taking up on it? I certainly hope they can live up to the legacy that Bungie made for it.
Don't forget, the lack of MP is gonna scare off lots of twitchers and tweekers too, because they only like a game if they can twitch along for 2-3 years with it and never giving a new experience the slightest look.
Yeah, what World said.
As for the future of Halo, I honestly have no idea.
A new Microsoft Games Studios outfit, 343 Industries will be taking over the helm of future Halo games after the release of Reach.
Peace.
Lawless, it will probably go down then…
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
Does anyone know what's life with playstation?
Umm you get some scrolling news, weather updates, and you let your PS3 be used by like cancer researchers for its processing power while LwP is turned on.
Pandacastro,
What World just said, plus….you're helping researchers in their hunt for cures for all the different cancer's, & Alzheimer's too.
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2008/09/17/start-your-%E2%80%9Clife-with-playstation%E2%80%9D/
(complete with more video info there too)
Last edited by BikerSaint on 8/29/2010 12:53:18 AM
Really looking forward to those interviews by the way. Those are some of the funnest parts, and it's mad insane when you can get the interviewees to post here. Even if we did kinda scare Kratos.
Um, er, yeah I'm gonna hafta agree with Infinite. I'm just playing Bioshock now and it's pretty good, in fact it surprises me it isn't a Bethesda game.
Vanquish I will pass on. Currently playin Bioshock, GOWIII again, Silent Hill PS1 classic, and Suikoden V. Oh yeah and if I don't use my birthday coupon code from EA soon to preorder Dragon Age II it'll expire and I won't get that discount. Think I'll do that tonight.
I worked out too hard this week, muscles hurt soooo bad. I'm just gonna sit in my chair and play games. Maybe have a drink…
This week, I…
-attended my cousin's wedding, was great!
-completed my 3rd playthrough of Dragon Age: Origins, then Awakening the expansion pack for that same Warden character; Golems of Amgarrak is next for him =)
-am looking forward to Sept.7…Witch Hunt DLC+Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC here I come…not to mention first day of my last high school year…
-am currently playing Mass Effect 1 again, a third time =) Sorry, the big news of ME2 coming to us PS fans just made me want to start the series all over again! So, ME2 and its 19 DLCs, here I come, after my Vincent Shepherd completes ME1 ^.^
-just learned minutes ago that, from Kazunori Yamauchi via his Twittter account, has stated that GT5 will only need 256 MB of the PS3's (by now, I hope massive for most of you =P) HDD. However, for anyone who wants a "smoother play experience", there is an optional install available, which takes up 10GB of HDD space. If anyone says it's old news, that's because the article was made 16 hours ago and I found out now lol
-will be going down to Windsor, Canada with my family to see more family and relatives. It's usually boring, so thank god there's a 52-inch Plasma HDTV (1080i, good enough) in their house, and thank god again that I'm allowed to use my PS3 or 360, whichever one I want to bring (I don't want to bring both…that's a lot of expensive luggage…). I'll be bringing my PS3 just so you know 😉
-had a blast with my brothers on Motorstorm: Pacific Rift; 109 total lifetime hours (and counting) well spent, along with CoD:WaW and Halo 3 thrown into the mix ^__^
Vanguish sounds really interesting Ben, I will be checking out the demo on the PS Store. Also, H.A.W.X. 2 sounds cool, heard the 1st was so-so though.
Last edited by Victor321 on 8/29/2010 12:17:17 AM
You're saying it needs to install to be perfect or is it just polish to perfection?
What Mr. Yamauchi-san is saying is that 256 MB of HDD space is only needed to run the game, but for anyone with 10GB of available space, they have the option to install it, therefore most likely decreasing load times, increased game performance, and more.
And of course, a "smooth play experience". It's not like the game's going to perform worse if you don't do the install (10GB is a lot to ask for an installation, as most games like MGS4 and Heavy Rain go for the 4-7GB mark).
For simplicity's sake, the game will probably run great without the install (5+ years of development with doses of perfectionism should do the trick no?) but it will run even better, or as you said "polished to perfection", with the install.
I hope I cleared it up =)
Last edited by Victor321 on 8/29/2010 10:25:07 AM
I hope, to God, so! It would be very bogus for the game to not run great without the mandatory install being that it's been 5-6 years that the games been in dev. I wouldn't mind so much if it wasn't a 10gb install, not that it's a ton, it's just gonna be some more to wait till we finally get to play the damn game lol. But didn't they say they were gonna stop the whole install thing or was that just the "mandatory part," whereas this is just optional?
@ Dridion,
The install is 100% optional. You don't have to do it. Whereas games like MGS4, Heavy Rain, Resident Evil 5, etc. required a mandatory install once you boot up the game, GT5's is optional.
I repeat. Optional. ^.^
Before I address the article, and considering this is week in review, I've been thinking about the online passes and whatnot for used game sales. It's difficult to determine the best path to take. Sure it may seem like a good idea to strip online play from users and force them to pay to play the game, but a problem occurs when it comes to games for which the online segment is a core feature of the game, such as MAG or Warhawk or even Demon's Souls. Highlander was suggesting the locking of additional content, but I don't honestly think that a great many people would pay just to have access to trophies and extra avatars and perhaps Home gear. The problem is that I can't think of any other way to make the consumers pay, outisde of locking the entire game, which would just cause chaos. Anyway…
Vanquish looks like a whole lot of off-the-wall insanity. I honestly love the idea behind it, but I'm a bit worried about how the execution will turn out. But, I'm definitely going to watch as many trailers of it as I can find when I go to see my sister in a couple of weeks to get a proper gauge of it. Besides, I've always wanted to play the Gears franchise, so perhaps this will give me enough of an idea of how that feels. Even so, I can't imagine this will be an immediate purchase for me. Maybe next year when things slow down again.
Those comments by the team members of Irrational Games are really encouraging for anyone interested in Bioshock Infinite. It really does go to show that there are still people dedicated to offering quality to the masses. If the game isn't one of the best of 2012 I will be very surprised.
Personal Update:
Okay, I finished Love in the Time of Cholera on Monday, fantastic story, and have since started on Anna Karenina. Loving it so far because unlike most novels that I've read/movies that I've seen/games that I've played, the characters actually feel like real people in their mannerisms. It's clear that Tolstoy has put a lot of effort into doing that and it is something that I really appreciate.
I finally did finish the chapter I've been promising to since I started commenting here. I did that on Thursday and have now started on another one. All I can say is I'm glad it's over.
I'm on the last chapter of Final Fantasy XIII, and really looking forward to seeing the culmination of the almost sixty hours I've put into it. I've done the first draft of my review for it, so when I've finished it I'll go back over checking that I still agree with everything that I've written and then I'll post it up. Also, I've sort of gone a little bit back into GTPSP in order to get me ready for GT5. I'm mainly focussing on increasing the number of cars in my garage and getting back to the level where I can actually not come two laps behind third place using professional driving physics.
Outside of all that, I've got to get back into working out… again. Every time I start I get distracted by something and it becomes difficult for me to get back into it…
I think that's about all.
Peace.
It'd be impossible for me to express how much I love that book, and how much I love Anna. 🙂
I'm about halfway through War and Peace now. Brilliant, of course. And if you like Anna Karenina, I'm almost certain you'll like War and Peace.
Thanks for the name check….
:/
Sorry? It's just that what you were saying struck a chord and stuck with me. Thought I'd give you credit for the idea.
Peace.
Can't wait for the demo for Vanquish, I'm already super interested in it and if the demo really impresses, a D1P.
Personal gaming update:
Over 150 hours now in Disgaea 3, and to those who played Disgaea 3, is there any tips to get the ticket to Land of Carnage?
I'm already at level 80 with one of my legendary weapon but I still can't find the room with the ticket.
You buy them in illegal rooms. 1,000,000-100,000,000HL a piece. There are 2 illegal rooms. One can be found in B1-49 and the other is found in B50-99. Buy them all when you come across an illegal room. The other half of the dark world tickets are obtained from defeating pirates.
You should get a dev interview with GG to beg them in making the contrast less visible between the Super-Intelligent Helghan and your partners ('-')
For myself, I'm not too interested in Vanquish…just seems way too fuzzy & hectic for me.
But….if there's a demo, I will DL it just to make sure.
Some of the upcoming games I'm really anticipating the most right now are…
Bulletstorm
Brink
Deus Ex
M.O.H.
Spec Ops:The Line
Last Guardian
(BTW,there is certainly more, but I'm just way too "Demon Dog" tired to think rationally right now)
As for my own gaming update, I've been trying to plow through some of the backlog in my collections, so I'm now playing….
PS3: "Alone in the Dark: Inferno"
PS2: "Beyond Good & Evil"
360:"FarCry Predator"/"FarCry Instincts"
And for my Xbox, I'll probably pop in "Ice Age 2", just 4 the widdle kid in me.
Vanquish looks awesome. I eagerly await the demo: Tuesday won't come soon enough.
I look forward to Halo: Reach, I'm hoping it'll be the best in the franchise when considering that this is Bungie's last effort before they say good-bye. Hopefully, the game transcends the epitome: "Save the best for last."
CVG has run a feature on Halo: Reach this last week with closing comments that are somewhat reassuring, yet, somewhat suspicious.
"This is shaping up to be the best shooter we've ever played."
— Rob Taylor
With a market loaded with so many different dialects of shooters, to make a broad sweeping claim of this sort leaves me suspect. Is it possible to make such a great shooter in one-year's time?–okay, I got to stay optimistic, I got to stay optimistic =p
I wrapped up FF13 this week. It was a great game, and I look forward to future installments (not the online FF's)
Allowing the good reputation of Assassin's Creed 2 to influence my decision to go ahead and play it, I can honestly say that I'm glad I took heed.
The game is great, and remarkable in more ways than one.
It's not really one year though, ODST was a just like an expansion so I don't think they spent a lot of time with ODST.
Look at Zipper, MAG this year, SOCOM 4 next year.
Good point, Snaaaake
I just picked up GTA-IV tonight.
Although I prefered it for the PS3, the store I got it from only had one copy, the 360 version.
But since it was only $12.99 and in mint condition, I just had to snatch it.
Soooo, I'll also have to sample that one sometime this week too.
Last edited by BikerSaint on 8/29/2010 1:40:22 AM
Nice price. If it helps any to offset the 360 woes, that edition enjoys both a resolution boost and frame-rate advantage over it's PS3 sibling.
Though, I read the 360 version, despite it's technical advantages, has a unique cartoony-like character rendering effect that doesn't quite fit the vibe of GTA which led some to preference the PS3 edition.
Personally, frame-rate and res is typically my preference.
Yeah, some random tech-head crap that I thought you'd might like to know =)
Tokyo Game Show is all that matters to me as far as recent game news go
Other than that, just amazed at Square-Enix…
What went wrong? What happened to you Square?
I actually believed FFXIV was going to be a solid MMORPG…
Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One looks so freaking fun!
Last edited by Scarecrow on 8/29/2010 2:01:06 AM
Temjin001,
Thanks for the info, always good to know.
But since it's a multiplat, I also need it for my PS3 collection too, just got to wait it out till it's at good price-point for me. And that way then I can concentrate on getting the "Gay Tony & the Lost & Damned for my PS3.
Anyways, as a biker & the President of a MC,I want to see how close R* comes in trying to do a motorcycle club.
BTW, I own over 85 biker movies dating all the way back to the 1960's & almost all of them have been bullshite. Along with all the TV shows I've ever seen on them too.
The only show I ever saw that come the closest was the 4 disc DVD box set I now own, from the 2-season(2002-2003) Canadian TV Mini-series called "The Last Chapter".
Great series!!!!
Wow, you're quite the collector. So did you play that Harley Davidson game for Dreamcast back in the day?
Well, maybe it was just Naomi based arcade units that offered that ride.. I can't remember.
I've been thinking about the used game problem as well Lawless. I really think that if any of the big chain places that sell used games would make a deal with the various studios/producers to give them a cut of the profits (I mean really what's $1-$5 per used game sold?) then I think that everybody could be happy. Now if some start-up game store decided to do this right off the bat then I think that they might have a shot at being the new and improved gamestop. Sorry for the rant, had a dream last night.
I went out and pre-oordered Vanquish and C:LoS. Vanquish looks to be too much fun to pass up. I feel that the sense of speed will add to the experience. And the bad voice acting is a draw as well, lol.
As for C:LoS, I'm going to take a chance. I mean Kojima, Piccard, and walking coffins, what's not to like?
PGU
At chapter 4 in MGS4, also playing UC2 to get the treasures that I missed and doing some multiplayer. Also messing around with Fallout3 again, getting all those trophies is just too tempting. And playing R2 as well. Can't wait for R3 to come out. Happy gaming people.
That would actually be a brilliant idea, but the problem is, how could a developer or publisher be sure of exactly how many copies goes through the store? I'm sure there is some business precedence for it, but perhaps it could work on a monthly fee to each individual publishing company depending on size and the amount of games from each that are likely to be traded.
Peace.
Here is the size of the problem for game publishers….
According to GameStop's most recent financial report, new game sales account for 36.9% of it's sales revenue, and used game sales account for 31.4% of it's sales revenue. Used games are also their most profitable revenue stream.
31.4% of total $$ revenue was used game sales.
Remember that used games are always cheaper than new, and a lot of used games are considerably cheaper than 'new'. So for Used games sales revenue to be nearly the same as the revenue from *new* games, Gamestop has to be selling at least as many used games as new, and probably more. Gamestop doesn't publish numbers, and probably never will – it wouldn't look so good if they sold more copies of some high profile titles used than new would it?
Regardless of how anyone thinks about the concept of buying used games or saving money, if you simply look at the data, you can see why games publishers are getting annoyed and trying to do something.
I'm not saying what should, or should not, be done. I'm simply illustrating that there is a problem, and what the scale of that problem is.
Last edited by TheHighlander on 8/29/2010 2:51:44 AM
I, HAD A DREAM…
Highlander, don't you think that a large part of it is the fact that Gamestop gets anywhere from 50% to 75% profit from a used game? i mean, I can go in there and trade in a game like Madden 11 for maybe 35 to 40 USD. they sell it for 55. Thats about a 60% profit if we go by $40.
On paper, their profit margin for used games should be through the roof, at least compared to new games.
My problem with all this is that game companies aren't exactly struggling. There is a used market for everything. You think warner bros gets a share of each used DVD that gets sold? Or Alpine gets a cut of each used deck sold on ebay? Cars, computers, furniture, game consoles… Developers just need to deal with it, IMO.
Remember Funcoland? Iirc, they only sold used games and systems, so 100% of their profit was from used sales. I guess that makes them evil according to Highlander….
@GuernicaReborn
No, that's not their profits that is their sales revenue. In other words every dollar that went through their cash register. Yes, they are extremely profitable. In fact they make more $$ and % in profit on used games than new, but the figures given are the sales revenue for new and used games.
@bandit,
There are none so blind as those who refuse to see. If you can't see why publishers and developers would have a problem with this, then you simply aren't willing to look.
I understand why they have a problem with it, but they all need to grow up and deal with it without screwing over the customers. Does Tor throw a hissy fit because i can go get a copy of Ender's Game at the library and they don't see a cent? No, because that is how commerce works. People use things then they sell them. Boning the 2nd owner is NOT the way to fix this.
Imo, you are the one not willing to see that every other industry in the world functions just fine with 2nd hand sales, and video games should not be the execption to the rule. So what if Gamestop found a way to make a dollar on it? Don't buy from them, but dont act like me buying a copy of Sly 2 at a yard sale (which i just recently did. $2, good deal!) is going to destroy Sucker Punch. Its ridiculous that you think this one industry is somehow sovereign and can avoid the pitfalls of big business.
Video gaming used to be a niche market, but now they are playing with the same budgets as any other mainstream media, so its time they start acting like it.
Last edited by NoSmokingBandit on 8/29/2010 9:09:24 PM
Wow thanks for all the responses guys. That's some food for thought. I don't know how the problem will/could be solved. Like I said I had a weird dream about it. It was at E3 and name calling, swords, and guns were present. Yeah I know, weird, lol.
It's like gouging out your own eyes…
Temjin001,
Nahh,
Although I also collect biker movies, books, 1000's of die-cast H-D & radical custom bikes, and any other memorabilia too, I'm sorry to say don't have any H-D in my gaming collection, except for a hand-held game made by Radica that you wear as a glove and has a hand grip to throttle, brake, and steer, plus some buttons for other functions.
The 8-bit graphics suck, but the innovative glove & throttle set-up for a hand-held was a very cool idea.
Here's a picture of it:
http://www.ioffer.com/i/45688051
BTW, If I ever get the money(and some space for it) I'd like to get Sega's old pinball sized "H-D L.A. Riders Deluxe" arcade game where it has a bike you actually mount & move your body left & right to steer it.
Here, it's the 2nd H-D arcade machine down the list at this site
http://www.bmigaming.com/games-videositdownrefurb-waitlist-hh.htm
Enjoying life on an intellectual island.
Gaming has been sporadic lately. I'm playing a bit of Burnout Legends on the PSP, and the PS3 has Uncharted 2 in it right now.
I just can't seem to finish Star Ocean 4 yet, and my replay of WKC has stalled out as well. Sometimes I really hate the summer blues. It's been a long, and very hot and humid one here, and that never leaves you wanting to play video games. Hopefully September will bring cooler weather and a return to gaming.
You know the heat is bad when you look forward to temperatures in the 90's. You could count on one hand how many days have been below 100 in Shreveport this summer.
Wow you too? I thought that was only over here where I stay. The weather has been the worst since I moved here and the humidity never helps. Back in New York there was never such words that began with the letter "H" lol, at least not levels that mattered. On top of that this summer has been too long for my liking.
Last edited by Dridion on 8/29/2010 4:21:08 PM
We had a record hot June, July and August. I can't remember how many 100F+ days there were but it was dozens. I don't think we've had more than 10 days in the last 100 below 90F. Even our night time temps have run in the 80s, and if you know weather, you know that means that the humidity was high – dewpoints in the region of 80F. The worst has been the heat index. We've run heat indexes in the 120+ range for most of July and August. It's been truly disgusting weather.
Oh, one additional personal gaming update. I recently got the time and inclination to start up FFVIII on my PSP.
All I can say is WOW. This game just absolutely rules on the PSP. I remember playing it on my original PlayStation back in the day, but I'd forgotten how good it looks. Even played on the PS3 it's not terrible. This is a perfect example of what could be done by developers who were trying. It could easily pass as a PSP game of today. The pre-rendered video is awesome.
Last edited by TheHighlander on 8/29/2010 6:17:57 PM
You know, now that you mention it, I remember a couple of times where it was around 9 in the evening and the temps where still 100 flat and it would rarely ever dip below 85. Areas that were populated with tons of tress were fine but driving back into the city was such a drag. And as you mentioned the H.I. were astronomically high…well that might be an exaggeration, but it sure felt that way. The hottest I ever recall experiencing was around the 114 mark, never higher. To have +20 is just insane IMO.
It's that heat index that get's you. Just walking from the car to the office drains every ounce of energy you have. By the time the evening arrives you feel like a fish out of water and just want to flop around under a cool stream of water. You just don't want to do anything when its that hot.