Ben-DutkaSeptember was busy…October is gonna be even busier. 🙂
David Cage's dedication is encouraging
As far as I'm concerned, we can put Quantic Dream boss David Cage in the same "visionary" category as guys like Hideo Kojima and Kazunori Yamauchi. In reading Cage's comments concerning his outlook on game design, it occurred to me that provided such guys maintain their passion and creative drive, gamers will continue to benefit. More importantly, innovation and revolution won't ever die. Interestingly enough, it almost sounds as if Cage is apologetic when he says other game makers have other things to think about; i.e., family stuff. Doesn't it sound like he's apologizing for not growing up?
I really do sense a little regret in his words, but the cool part is that he can't help it. He loves what he does and he seems 100% authentic. Once again, I have to thank all gamers who rewarded Cage and Quantic Dream for the amazing Heavy Rain ; that success allows the studio to take the next step, and I can't wait to see what it is.
"Greatly damaged?" …no sh**, Square Enix
You've gotta be kidding me. You're blaming the downfall of the Final Fantasy brand on FFXIV? That's why the brand is "greatly damaged?" Look, I understand that Nomura was specifically asked about FFXIV, but why didn't he take that opportunity to talk about the legions of long-time series fans that essentially had a meltdown when FFXIII came out? You know, after all that, I never once heard Square Enix acknowledge the negative response that game generated. Not once. I heard sales updates, but that's about it. It's why I've said in the past that they simply don't listen to the fans.
And yes, I'm aware that FFXIII was a great game. I know it was a great game. I put over 100 hours into it and I didn't regret it (well, not entirely). It just wasn't a great Final Fantasy , nor do I really consider it a full role-playing game. These are hardly unique ideas; a great many fans say the exact same thing. And somehow, Square Enix has either missed or ignored it all. Well, whatever.
Personal gaming update
Well, after finishing a bunch of games recently, I thought I'd finally be able to conquer Catherine before the fall onslaught arrived. Not quite. I'm still convinced I'll finish Atlus' excellent puzzler (I have to see how the story turns out!) but right now, it's all about RAGE , Dark Souls , and the surprising Atelier Totori: Adventurer of Arland . Now, I can't really talk about the other two until this week, but I think most of you know that I love RAGE . That's the only hint you'll get, however. 😉
As for Dark Souls , I'll just say that it's brutal and punishing, and I'm not convinced that it's better than Demon's Souls . I have some control and camera concerns…but I have to keep playing before I pass judgment. On a different subject, if you're looking for something invigorating and fresh, I would recommend Child of Eden . You've never really seen anything like it before and visually, it'll blow your hair back.
Lastly, we should be having our Home party this Thursday for the PSXE Show Episode #6. It isn't confirmed yet but hopefully, we're good to go for that. Also, look for more old episodes on our YouTube Channel . Oh, and unfortunately, Level-5 didn't have time to answer our WKCII questions…I got the feeling that the team isn't too happy with the game's reception here in the West.
Shame about the L-5 interview falling through. Ah well.
Cage is an interesting guy, but he's also the type that should just let his projects speak for themselves, not because he doesn't have good and interesting things to say, but because his games are so unique and so downright amazing that he needn't say anything to defend them or himself. The guy is amazing.
Personal Update:
Haven't been around much this week, obviously. Spent two days moving furniture over 150km, which ultimately meant that I had almost no gaming time, but I did fool around in FFIV for a little while. Same goes for reading, really. Though I did pick up one of two Sherlock Holmes collections, and I'll hopefully be picking up the other in a couple of weeks.
Ran off the road due to tiredness the other day, resulting in some damage to my car, which sucks, but everything is all good.
I intend to finish Bad Company 2 this week, and maybe play through Dante's Inferno or something before getting stuck into the Uncharted trilogy. We'll see, and I hope I can get back to being around more…
Peace.
Lawless,
Glad to hear you're OK!
And hopefully your car's still drivable.
Yeah, just lost one of the rearview mirrors, flare over the rear tyre, brake light.. That's about it really.
Ben, you are a 1 man wrecking crew when it comes to playing new releases and preparing their reviews. Looking forward to your Rage and Demon Soul's reviews.
Oh and I'm thoroughly looking forward to David Cage's next game.
PGU: Battlefield 3 beta (I think this will fair better than MW3 with critics….not with sales unfortunately), GeoW3, and soon onto Ico.
Last edited by jimmyhandsome on 10/1/2011 9:47:07 PM
Yes I agree David Cage is a visionary. Also, I never thought of a Heavy Rain sequel. I mean with all the possible endings how would they make a sequel that makes sense?
PGU: I got Gears Of War 3 Monday and finished it Wednesday. I'm still playing some online and Horde mode until it gets boring. I must say that Epic did a really great job with the game.
The worst thing happened last night. I had to choose between Ico/SotC collection, GOW: Origins, Deus Ex, Dead Island and Catherine. So I ended up getting Ico/SotC and Dead Island. I feel regret I think because I just want them all so badly.
You know of the amazon deal right now? Buy 1 PS3 collection get the 2nd for half off. You should check it out if you didnt already open Ico/SotC
jimmyhandsome,
Yeah, I was all over that page the second Amazon sent me the flyer, but unfortunately there wasn't a big selection of games there.
Fortunately though, I didn't leave empty Handed as I was able to at least grab Crysis 2 & Uncharted 2 GOTY Edition.
I also wanted Mass Effect 2, but I couldn't find one other game I wanted to bundle with it (not even in all the other console & handheld categories either). So I'll just keep looking for a deeper price drop on that one.
Remember when SE was surprised at all the fans that wanted a FF7 remake?
Don't remind us. How out of touch can they be?
Apparently worse than we thought. The only competent team leader there is Nomura 😛
That's why I want Nomura out of Square-Enix and to start his own RPG studio with Sony. S-E will then see most (if not all) of their PlayStation fans bid them "Sayonara!"
Next, Captain Obvious Nomura is going to realize: "Wait… We're supposed to make RPGs?"
Wada is Captian Obvious, not Nomura.
With the total disconnect between S-E and its (former) fans under Wada's so-called "leadership", he's more like Captain Oblivious.
yeah since ffx i haven't finished them, and havent cared to… its as if they're just catering… catering to someone.. but not me
I haven't really cared to finish one since 12. and boy that was that most anticlimactic boss fight ever.
Last edited by main_event05 on 10/1/2011 11:47:37 PM
David Cage is the man. I love his passion for gaming and understanding the importance of having his own lane. Thats how its done Squeenix!!
Speaking of which, Im sick of them. Unless Versus is good and Wada steps down, I will never buy another game from them. We all as gamers need to do it because its the only way these boneheads will get it. They're friggin playing with our minds I tell ya..
PGU: I platinumed Chains of Olympus this week and Ill platinum Ghost of Sparta as well, just not as quickly because of my crazy backlong. Its really crazy; Deadspace Extraction, Enslaved, Castlevania, Undead Nightmare, Valkyrie Chronicles, Vanquish, New Vegas. wow! I just bought the ICO collection, Dark Souls is a must and Uncharted 3 is preodered. What the hell is wrong with me lol
Last edited by SoulController on 10/1/2011 11:49:19 PM
I loved Heavy Rain and it's it's awesome to have people in the business that care about games that much. It is their job and they started doing it because they loved it. Some just need to remember that passion they had before.
Squeenix has a lot to do to make me love them again. Who knows it may never happen. At least I still have the classics.
PGU: I finished R3 on Superhuman last Saturday. Did it on co-op and have a blast. The game is great and plan on finishing up everything else for the plat soon.
I finished Crysis 2 on Superhuman last night. Man it really wasn't that hard since I had upgraded everything playing it on easy first. Plus I just really snuck through all the levels. Overall the game was enjoyable. I earned about 65% of the trophies and have called it quits. I have to many other games to work on and I just don't feel like grinding the MP.
I'll be picking up Rage Tuesday and can't wait to dig into it. Game looks amazing and from the way Ben hints it's fun. My backlog is to big to list but a few new ones are Dead Island, and GoW:Origins. Plus this month I'm also picking up Batman:AC, BF3, and November is Uncharted 3. I'm hoping to also get The Ico collection soon.
How come Dark Souls wasn't a ps3 exclusive? I didn't play Demon's Souls but I knew that it was exclusive, did they give a reason why?
Dark Souls is called a spiritual successor. That way they avoided the exclusivity of it being a sequel with "Demon's" in the title. I guess technically there could still be a Demon's Souls 2 someday, which would then be PS3 exclusive.
Ah I see thanks Claire.
Ben, as you said, you can't really say to much.
The one thing though I would love to know at this stage, is simply this; technically do ID prove once again that they know what they are doing – yes/no – because comparing their tech to the Frostbite2 engine will be very interesting for me?
I am particularly interested in their Mega Texturing technique which I think all developers should look at adopting. More needs to be backed into the textures rather than having "floating" objects literally floating above the ground – such as in BF3 🙁 Even the bushes float in BF3 when crawling past them along a wall… incredibly bad and very sad to see… Rage may be a better bet than BF3 at this point…
PGU: The Battlefield3 Beta
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
If BF3 looks better than RAGE, I'll be surprised.
speaking of bf3 and frostbite 2.0…what a let down. i know it is just a beta but i doubt we will see any major graphical upgrades between now and when the game ships. there are some nasty looking textures and shadows going on in this supposed advanced engine. in a lot of ways it looks very similar to the medal of honor mp which i thought was a kind of ugly looking game. there is also a noticeable amount of screen tearing. i have come to despise screen tearing over the years. it just looks awful having a screen tear on a huge hdtv. all of these problems add up to unimpressive looking beta. you would think that after months of listening to ea/dice carrying on like a crack addicted hype spewing furbie they would be a little more careful with their bf3 beta. oh well, it is what it is. bf3 may still end up fine but ea should watch what they feed their hype monster becuase it may come back and bite them in the a$$.
square has its problems for sure. they have lost a lot of talent over the years plus i think they have poor leadership at the top. there has not been an elite ff game since ff10 imo. i am very much looking forward to ff10 hd.
pgu
i bought the re hd games. if you are a plus member you can get them for half price. for $20 you get both hd games plus you download re1-3 for free as well which is pretty cool. that's a great deal for people who love the resident evil series. i am playing through code veronica x right now and i love it. the music and atmosphere are great. atmosphere is so important in re series. that is something capcom totally forgot with re5.
on consoles it looks pretty crap, but on PC it will melt your face!
i wont be surprised if it actually looks better then RAGE.
the builds still a month old, they will make heaps of improvements to it by the time its out.
i remember the visual upgrade uncharted 2 had from beta to release.
Thanks Ben, that is all I needed to know… I will go and pick up Rage as soon as I can get my hands on it…
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
Ben, I can't wait to see your reviews on Rage & Dark Souls.
As for Cage, I always thought of him as a genius ever since he released Fahrenheit(Indigo Prophacy in NA)
About my own PGU….
Not much of one this week cause on the 15th of Sept, Verizon notified me that they were going to upgrade my DSL from 3Mbs to 7Mbs(at no extra charge).
But…… what a f*cking circle-jerk fiasco that turned out to be.
The very next day UPS was at my door with a new upgraded Verizon modem that's also has wireless too now.
Well guess what? From the 16th till just this past week, I had almost a completely non-existent internet, plus even my phone service was cut off too until last Friday, and with no frigging way to even contact them about it.
But just before my phone-line cut off, I called Verizon's tech support(which is actually outsourced to India) 3 days in a row & they were no frigging help at all.
Besides me not being able to understand their strong accents & dialect, when they couldn't correct the problem they would just put me on hold & then disconnect me altogether. After this happened 3 different days with 3 different tech support, I'm convinced that it's their standard business practice over there to cut you off if they haven't fixed the problem within 25 minutes of starting your phone help.
Anyway there were 3 days where I managed to re-set everything myself, but my DLS would slow down until everything just bogged down(BTW, I took many ping & speed tests to prove it) & then my DSL would kick off again within 3 hours, for another couple days or more.
I kept playing around with it & I finally got it to work right for good since myself last Friday & now I'm averaging around 6.4Mbs instead of that measly, sporadic, -2Mbs I was averaging before(so far)
"Knock on wood"
(continued below)
(continued from above)
But all my down time wasn't a total loss!
I managed to come into some money, & just before clearing out all my overdue bills, I made sure I paid myself first so I wound up taking another of my Wild Game Safari Hunts.
I picked 2 more PSP 3000's for my collection(MGS green camo & Hannah Montana metallic lavender). I picked up a re-certified 750 GB HD that I'm going to pop in my 320 GB Slim Move Bundled Princess, some 32GB M2 Micro(PSPGO), SD Micro, ProDuo, & flash drive memory sticks/cards, with assorted adapters, & ton of accessories for almost all of my systems, and a couple of 320 & 500 GB external HD's for backing my PS3 up. I also ordered a slew of assorted retro gaming & HDTV related accessories from Hong Kong.
I also picked up over 80 games = 11 PS3, 7 PS2, 14 PS1, 5 PSP, 4 360, 1 Xbox, 3 Wii, 7 GameCube, 3 GB Advance, 4 Dreamcast, & 1 Genesis(so far, but I'm still looking, & it's still early yet).
But my sweet Slim Princess(Phat Princesses much younger sister) has really gotten the major bulk of my joystick's fondling …
a new "off/on" switch adapter
a 2nd set of Move & Navigator controllers
2 Move Pistols
a Sharpshooter
a Nyko Skill Shot Tacticle Rifle
a PS3 compatible Text Link remote w/slide out keyboard & controller buttons
a wireless handheld mini-keyboard w/touch pad
a PS3 official Sony wireless stereo headset
The new games I've just added into my PS3 collection
Dead Rising 2
Brink
Bulletstorm: Limited
Deus Ex: Augmented Edition
Battlefield: Bad Company 2
Lost
Lost Planet 2
Hellboy
NFS:Carbon
Spit/Second
DJ Hero 2 bundle(w/ turntable)
Tony Hawk Shred bundle (w/board)
Power Gig: Rise of the sixstring
RE 5
Wall*e
Bourne Conspiracy
Crysis 2
Uncharted 2 GOTY Edition
(Move games)….Eyepet, Playstation Move Heroes, The Fight: Lights Out, The Shoot, Start The Party, & TV Superstars
Plus I'm still hunting for another refurbed 60 GB Phat Princess(hopefully within the next few weeks) & the new Flex-Fire Move Rifle that's about to come out.
Last edited by BikerSaint on 10/2/2011 2:06:27 AM
O_O Wow, you put me to shame.
Nice collectin! =)
Biker if it werent all video games i might call you a horder! lol ha ha video game horder
Damn, I wish you're my next-door neighbour I could call out to for a round of multiplayer gaming. LOL You put everyone on this site to shame with your huge collection of video games and consoles! You really should consider joining Sony's newest fan competition sir. I've said it before and I'll say it again. You're a shoo-in!
Damn man, How do you ever plan to find the time to play all of those?
An incredible feat really… will done Mr. Saint… now please haul the US economy out of its doldrums…
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
@Qubex: ROFL!
Just played the BF3 beta and wow, Frostbite 2 is arguably the biggest disappointment this year so far.
Even the Resistance 3 demo looks better, the beta was buggy and the graphic isn't all that impressive.
Yes it's a beta but we're less than a month away from release.
Last edited by Snaaaake on 10/2/2011 3:19:05 AM
So was Crysis 2 when that beta was released and it turned out fine aside from obvious overuse of motion blur.
Have to say the Crysis 2 engine was actually very good. I like the way they dappled the edges of all the shadows… it is a great way to soften them. Unfortunately DiCE will not do this for Frostbite 2.
Jawk, they are going to have to really improve this baby to make me forgive'm this time… Otherwise its Rage and Killzone 3 for the collection.
By the way Jawk, are you still playing Killzone 3 multiplayer?
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
I haven't popped Killzone 3 in since before I went to Europe but I certainly plan to. It's multiplayer is a log of fun.
it was really encouraging to read that interview a few days ago, though i just wish we could get a heavy rain sequel.
just the story of it was so interesting, and something we have really never seen in a game before.
i wish they would do a HD collection for IP since i never got a chance to play it.
i cant wait to see what hes new game is, i just hope this time the ending and motives are a little more believable!
far too many games these days are far too far fetched!
one of the most important things in storytelling is to root your story in reality, either in past history like assassins creed, or in future history like mass effect.
the only reason why people love both those stories so much is because they feel like if you went to their time you could totally see the games events taking place.
they feel real they dont feel out of place at all!
as for $E, well i just had to piss myself laughing when i read that.
then my next reaction was, what IV ONLY!?
come on $E, allot more then just that game has ruined the series!
if you seriously cant see that, then god dam your so blind not even jesus could heal you!
i got the ico collection the other day, my god i have not disliked a game that much since, well, EVER!
SOTC is far too repetitive, its travel to this colossi, spend 20 minutes climbing him, then another 20 minutes because you fell down because the controls are so unresponsive and clunky, then spend another 20 minutes climbing him because again you fell down because again the controls are so unresponsive and clunky.
rinse and repeat!
i thought there would be some platforming or some combat or something to separate the colossi battles up, but theres not!
its just travel to colossi, kill colossi, travel to colossi, kill colossi, rinse and repeat.
thats gotta be the most simplistic, most repetitive formula ever put into a game!
i mean come on, ive played plenty repetitive games before but this has gotta be the first time ive seen a game made out of 1 level repeated several times!
ico was ok, just FAR too outdated!
i mean its a freaking ps2 game for crying out loud, but theres no checkpoints!
WTF?
FREAKING PS1 GAMES HAD CHECKPOINTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
even the puzzles feel so outdated, almost every puzzle involves moving a box around.
but you can only move it back and forward not left or right.
WTF?
again, freaking ps1 games let you do that!
SOTC is the most repetitive game ive ever played, and ICO is certainly the most outdated!
the combats really boring too, just mash square as fast as you can and you only have 3 attacks before its repeated.
it gets really annoying too, you have to kill far too many enemies before the game lets you move on, and when you do finally get to move on your only allowed to take 2 steps before more enemies spawn!
you spend 99% of a level killing enemies, and 1% actually platforming and solving puzzles!
this has gotta be the first time where i have picked up a game, played it for like a hour, then switched over to its spiritual sequel, played it for a hour then taken it back.
normally i try and force myself to finish it, or at least get half way in hopes it will change, but with this i just cant do that its boring the f*ck out of me!
and i use to say GTAIV is the most overrated game of all time, i think i know now what its replacement is!
this has totally killed all the excitement and anticipation i had for TLG!
which is probably a good thing, because by the time that comes out my great grand kids will have great grand kids!
This proves once again that you do not know what you're talking about.
you should talk!
He doesn't need to. 10 thumbs down… 2 thumbs up. One from yourself, and one from Beamboom who likes to play devils advocate… not because he agrees with you.
Predictable as ever.
Ugh!!!!! Just wasted two hours trying to beat that damn scorpion in God of War III on chaos. That crap is cheap. There aren't enough check points. I kept getting to the end of the first half then I would screw up the quick time event! Ugh!!!! It's times like this I hate video games. Two hours wasted and no progress. Too frustrated to continue or to sleep. I need a glass of water. :p
By the way, I got that PS3 wireless headset. It's freakin awesome. Been playing while the baby and wife sleep. They can't hear a thing.
Last edited by Jawknee on 10/2/2011 3:50:50 AM
Try the Archdemon from DA:O on Nightmare. Took me 4 straight hours, no break.
Jawk, I am thinking of getting it as well; but what I wanted to know is that can it accept a feed from any audio source, and not just the PS3?
If yes I will get it for sure… I wanted it to be multiple purpose and not just for the PS3…
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
In the instruction booklet it said it can be used with the PS3 and PC only. If I am reading it correctly. the sound is quite good. I have only tried it with the Battlefield beta and God of War. Can't wait to try it with Killzone.
Playing games with a headset is so much better, more of the thrill is actually keeping up with the player.
I hate QTE's. You spend nearly the whole game doing one type of gameplay, then at rare occasions on bosses, you're expected to expertly execute QTE's. They are always SO much different than the majority of the gameplay. I wouldn't mind them so much if your success wasn't so dependent on doing them perfectly.
I mean, sure… add them to gain upper hands on bosses if done well, but I hate it when they -NEED- to be performed to beat a boss. I just really dislike draining a boss' health bar without ever getting hit only to make a small mistake on a QTE and have to either start the process over, or get a game over.
I don't mind them. I actually like them in God of War. That last few minutes of the battle got my heart pumping. Finally beat it this morning by the way only to now get stuck in the labyrinth. Blagh! Chaos mode is indeed chaos.
If it is true that L5 cancelled the interview because of the reception then I gotta say; what kinda defensive, sulky attitude is that??? If they ever want to get anywhere on this market they should not retreat but go forth and communicate, consult, initiate a dialogue!
And on top of that, psxe is one of the very few sites that rated this game high…!
Were it received better in japan (is there a japanese metaranking site?)?
Last edited by Beamboom on 10/2/2011 4:31:29 AM