Ben-DutkaThe review blitz has begun and it won't let up until Thanksgiving. So between now and then, please don't get on my bad side…I might be a few tweaks away from losing my cheery, laid-back nature. 😉
Hey…Move isn't doing too bad
I was one of the PlayStation Move skeptics as I'm simply not the biggest fan of motion sensing, no matter how advanced it is. I distinctly recall an editorial questioning the possible success for Move. …but then again, I was convinced inFamous would be underwhelming and it turned out to be one of my favorite games of the generation. And now, the early estimates say Sony moved around 300,000 units in its first few weeks . I've also found my Move experiences to be pretty fun; Sports Champions was more than solid and EyePet is great for the intended audience. Based on the estimates, it seems reasonable that more than 1 million Move units could be sold before the year is out. It makes for a decent holiday gift, right?
I'm just wondering if the hardcore, traditional gamers are interested in utilizing Move for the likes of SOCOM 4 , Killzone 3 and others. Personally, I like having Move for the titles designed for Move but I'm really not crazy about using the motion sensing for shooters. I'll have a tough time wrapping my brain around that. But The Fight certainly looks interesting.
Atlus…whatcha got goin' with Catherine?
Atlus has gained a reputation amongst the avid RPGers for delivering some very deep, very creative, very original products. Therefore, Catherine – despite some similarities to the Persona series – seems to be a bit of a departure for the publisher. I've been keeping an eye on all the details and I was especially interested in the most recent update from the designers. I'm really not that interested in anime, but if they can make this a mature, intelligent, engaging psychological adventure, I'm definitely in. I still need to see some gameplay, and nobody can even tell me what the game is ; i.e., an action/RPG, or what? The other intriguing part is that the developers continually say the project is "very ambitious," and they're obviously dumping a lot of effort and resources into the creative process. I'm just wondering what the final result will be (and whether or not it'll come to North America), because it's so mysterious…
And speaking of creative stuff, anybody else really looking forward to Child of Eden ? It may be better for Kinect, but even so, anything called the "spiritual successor to Rez " has my attention. And that bit about how they're handling the ending is pretty damn awesome.
Personal gaming update
I'm close to finishing Halo: Reach , which is easily the best entry in the franchise. So great. I'm also having fun with Enslaved: Odyssey to the West , which is…well, read the review . I should have both Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and Medal of Honor on Monday, and I already have the voucher code for Lara Croft: Guardian of Light , so look for that review soon as well. Then there's Quantum Theory and Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep , which are also in the review queue, so please…stay patient. I'll do them all as quickly as I can. All I can promise is that none will be significantly late, and I'm aiming to have all done within 24 hours of official release. Arnold will be doing Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock and Gran Turismo 5 , by the way, so we're keeping as up-to-date as possible.
I like Enslaved a lot. It's just too bad…I know for a fact that if they had kept it PS3 exclusive and had worked to fine-tune the engine they used for Heavenly Sword , Ninja Theory's latest would be AAA, 9+ quality. Easy. I still love the game but if there's one title that acts as a perfect example to focus on superior hardware, it's right here.
Yea, People are sleeping on Move. Guys PS Move is a SWEET piece of technology. I understand there is no games ATM but just the very few there are – are very FUN! PS Move is worth it! Don't sleep on it. The Fight Lights Out will be out this month.
A question that needs clarification: All PS Move ONLY games require only 1 PS Move, including Sports Champion & The Fight Lights Out. But TWO PS Moves give you an ever better experience. You only need 1. Two for MAXIMUM experience.
Im looking forward to The Fight Lights Out this month. I also heard by my local GAMESTOP that MoH will be Move compatible!
you actually need 2 move controllers for the fight lights out.
Careful dude, maybe he just wanted you to buy a Move.
I never heard of MoH supporting Move.
@ Snaaaake
Thats what GAMESTOP told me. I remember the words 95% exactly.
" EA was thinking on making this game work with Move "
It was a female too… Was she lying?
Lol…woman…games…come on now =P we all know gamestop hires women to make the guys instantly fall for whatever they want and preorder/buy things. haha But not sure, I don't think EA would make a game that's multiplat work for one system extra wise than the other, but maybe I'm wrong.
Actually, I do remember Move support was considered late last winter, but EA LA said that they considered it too gimmicky.
@ LegendaryWolfeh
Eg. Tiger Woods 11.
i played the heavy rain demo (move edition) it was fun, and sports champion is fun two, i would play it all the time but i get too tired fast…I gonna get heavy rain, to play it with the ps move…its pretty cool
Last edited by gangan19 on 10/2/2010 10:36:42 PM
I'm not sure what Ben will think of it, but I've had that Lara Croft:Guardian of Light demo for a week, & I'm really not liking it.
Just my opinion, but to me, it's too cartoony of a look, & feels more like a side scroller now.
Also, I had a lot of trouble with the control of trying to get Lara to actually use the damned weapons I put in her hands.
I finally wound up saying screw it, & deleted the demo.
Last edited by BikerSaint on 10/2/2010 10:42:34 PM
Me too Saint, Guardian of Light was a terrible experiment in attempting to resurrect Lara.
Sounds like a damned busy couple of months for you. It's times like this that I don't envy you your job. 😛
I was actually very surprised by that sales estimate for PSMove, given that it really hasn't been heavily advertised in general media. What I'd like to see is whether or not the release of the peripheral has aided the sales of the PS3 at all. If it has, I'll be even more surprised. But I'm still waiting for that 'killer app' that will grab me buy the ears and force me to buy it. There is a lot of temptation for it though with KZ3, Heavy Rain, LBP2 and I read that even inFamous 2 will have move implementation. Oh, and Sorcery. We'll see what else there is. At least the Move games aren't full price.
Catherine does sound very interesting, but I wish that Atlus would just come out and tell us what they define the game as. They've said that it isn't an RPG, but it doesn't seem like an action game. I'm inclined to think it'll be an intellectual horror, combining elements of Heavy Rain with those of Silent Hill/Dead Space. Either way, it'll be interesting to see the final product.
I'm actually more interested in finding out more about Project Dark, which is another Atlus published game, developed by FROMsoftware. Them saying that it will be enjoyed by anyone who liked Demon's Souls is awewsome, and to be honest, I get the feeling that it will be better on PS3, given that as far as I know, FROM has no 360 development experience. Yeah, I know I'm biased.
Personal Update:
Well, I finished GTA IV at about half past ten last night. Posted my review shortly after that, but it hasn't gone live yet (or it hadn't at the time of my writing this). I failed to get anywhere in Valkyria Chronicles 2, which is starting to annoy me. And since I finished GTA IV, I was going to go onto the Episodes, but I need a break, so I'm going to play Heavenly Sword just as a refresher so that I've got a better base for comparison of Enslaved when I can get a hold of it.
I'm up to the seventh chapter of Part Seven of Anna Karenina, and really not looking forward to the end of it, given that I already know it. It just doesn't seem right after everything else.
I've got to clean the interior of Mum's car soon, given that it is an absolute mess. I keep putting it off, but I'll get to it soon enough.
I think finally, I'm currently watching Blade Runner, so I'll get busy once that's finished. I think that's all of any note.
Peace.
P.S. It's good to see Arnold back to doing the occasional review. I only hope that he doesn't pull a Modnation Racers on any of them. KIDDING!
Totally sucks that you know the ending.
Btw, I'm on the first epilogue of War & Peace. It'll be done this week. 🙂
Actually From does have some 360 experience, they made Ninja Blade.
Are you blind Man? Move advertisements are everywhere you look!
Ben,
Knowing the ending doesn't bother me too much. I mean, it's been a hell of a ride to get to this point, so I'll be glad to read it.
Snaaaake,
Thanks for bringing that up. I didn't realise because I don't recall ever even hearing of Ninja Blade.
World,
It may be so over there, and well, it's fairly prevalent here as well, but only really in catalogues for gaming merchandise. I've seen a couple of pamphlets in stores, but in terms of print advertising and media focus, there's nothing. I've actually seen a more for Kinect, and it doesn't release for another month and a half.
Peace.
@ Lawless
Atlus won't publish Project Dark, Namco Bandai will (how can they bring this and not Tales of Vesperia??)
From Software is developing Project Dark on PS3. The 360 version will be a port made by Namco Bandai (like how Sega handled the port of Bayonetta to the PS3 when Platinum Games developed it on the 360)
Last edited by hellish_devil on 10/3/2010 9:23:11 AM
Hellish Devil,
You are correct sir! I'm not sure what made me think that Atlus was publishing it. I can see Namco's reasoning though. After the relative success of Demon's Souls in the west, they saw thought it may be profitable for them to do it again.
I don't see why they wouldn't bring Tales of Vesperia over considering that they brought the 360 version over, and the PS3 version decimated it in sales in Japan. Who knows?
Peace.
I think there's more people that want Tales of Vesperia than Project Dark in the US.
Not surprising though, big Japanese companies are smoking crack this gen.
I'm not sold on Move yet. Motion control isn't compelling enough for me to break away from the existing games I have access to already. I like seeing, though, that the peripheral appears to be selling well.
I dunno about Enslaved. Game play motivates my interests much more so than cinematic and story telling(not to say I don't enjoy MGS, or FF etc). It would seem that Enslaved's biggest strength come from it's story telling and art design. But quite honestly, concerning most games I'm interested in, the stories don't come anywhere near in substance to what a more direct medium like books or film can achieve. Those two formats don't have to worry about game design and can focus exclusively on telling a richly detailed story. When it comes to games, it's really the game component that keeps me coming back for more.. yes, NG, I'm looking at you.
I think some people should turn Heavenly Sword back on and play through it again and see just how sluggish and un-optmized that game actually can be. Having played the game earlier this year for the first time, the game left a poor impression on me outside of it's superb voice work. There were a number of instances in that game that could've used a lot more polish. Especially that final battle with the end boss and all of the bystanders watching… nearly a slideshow. Not to mention lots of screen tearing and the mostly uncommon general sluggishness. Sorry, HS was no DMC, Bayonetta, NG, or even GoW in fluidity. Interesting, it nearly sounds like I'm talking about the same complaints I've been reading from Enslaved =p
Personal Gaming Update:
Uncharted 2: Playing it again for the first time.
NGS2: half way through Stage 5 on MN. woo hoo!
Bayonetta: I'm learning the combat engine in detail… it's crazy how she can instantly cancel out of most any of her moves with her dodge ability =0
SC: Conviction: my current Game Pass game, the graphics are quite awesome, and I've missed Sam.
FFIX: Slowly but surely. Just doing some powering up.
Yeah, I'm all over the place right now with my games.
"Uncharted 2: Playing it again for the first time."
wait, how can you be playing it again for the first time?
In other words, it's my second time playing it through.
What are you eating under there?
Last edited by Temjin001 on 10/2/2010 11:04:01 PM
You'll find Bayonetta dodging at anytime very very useful when you're surrounded.
I think what most people mean when they talk up the sweetness of Heavenly Sword is how good a PS3 game it was upon its release. Almost no one knew how to program for the thing, it was really pretty, and given 3 years of extra work on that engine Ninja Theory would have been capable of immense greatness. Instead we get ANOTHER Unreal 3 game that has hardly improved over a game over 3 years old. Which is a big deal because look at release titles for PS3 versus the current exclusives.
..and that may absolutely be the case, World.
But I'm more inclined to believe that such things can be associated with a work ethic standard. In the end, I think it was a choice of NT's to neglect to polish up areas that could've been polished.
And really, while PS3 games do look much nicer now than they did at launch, there were many launch window PS3 games that managed to be free of or had minimal technical issues.
I also just don't know what to think of NT. They haven't won me over as a trusted dev and they seem like something of a rogue company to me. Wasn't the HS game going to be on PS2, then Xbox, and then PS3?…. Then they couldn't tolerate Sony and decided to jump ship and go multi-plat. Plus, they can't help but take shots at… UNCHARTED 2?
"Oh, their animation is over-done"
What! The GT5 review is coming up… already?
Wow, I can't believe GT5 is coming up so fast, I can't wait. Almost 29 more days until it's release, 29 days?!.
I'm having a Hard time using Shooters with move also. games made specifically for move will be fun but Kill Zone 3 and Socom 4…?
GT5 countdown: 30 days
Move is doing well with hardly any games, amazon how well it will do this holiday with so many more games.
Move can wait. Catherine seems really interesting aside from the skinny man in tighty whities bit.
I'm surprised as hell that you don't like anime Ben, since all the best RPGs of all time are filled with anime inspiration, humor and other traits.
I'm playing catch up before the torrent comes with ResiEvil5, RDR, Oblivion DLC, and Bioshock (Can't wait for Infinite). I've replaced my defunct knock off DS3 with a nice Red one that I am tricking out with a red jacket, red thumbstick protectors, and properly curved trigger add-ons.
Edit: Oh yeah the big news this week aught to shup LV up for good. I bought a PSP, which is en route to me as we speak 🙂
Last edited by WorldEndsWithMe on 10/2/2010 11:02:44 PM
World, congrats on your new baby girl!!!!
So exactly what bundle of joy is the Playstation stork bringing home to ya, the big bouncy 3000 or the little preemie GO???
Yeah, I know. Most all JRPG fans are anime fans almost by default.
But I really hate anime. I've never been impressed with any of the so-called "classic" pieces of anime I've seen but for some reason, I don't mind it as much when it's in game form.
a 3001 to be precise, bought her some all new accessories too. I'll be feeding the kid with my PS1 classics first, then I need to locate a copy of Crisis Core since it isn't on the store.
Hey Ben have you seen Cowboy Bebop?
Yes. Hate it. 🙂
In that case I won't even attempt to sway you to the good guy's side. 🙂
LOL! @ Ben,
Classic anime? You mean like Akira? It was OK, but nothing like the Anime today. Of course I tend to prefer the lighter, sillier Anime that's simply fun to watch.
Ben, how bout 2 of my most favorie Animes, Samurai X (Rurouni Kenshin) or FullMetal Alchemist (the original and Brotherhood are top notch, but IMO the latter is one fine piece of anime.
On topic: my move purchase is just hindered by space limitations at my place. Until we move over to the new house, Move will always be clawing in my window pane 🙂
I'm watchin Black Lagoon and Fate/Stay Night at the moment. I hated all the old stuff like Akira.
I'll say this to ya Ben, at least a lot of the battles in anime are turn-based; you know how they scream the name of their move out before they make it 😉
Nice World, I am also trawling Ebay for a PSP deal. There are quite a few, but in the back of my mind I hear much about PSP2, that is why I haven't taken the plunge yet!
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
Congratulations on the psp, I also use it most for classics hehe.
I'm also a big fan of anime, though i was a fan of JRPG's first. I think Deathnote is one of my favorite animes, since it's quite intelligent in my opinion only the ending was totally out of place.
Come to the dark side Ben!!
I just can't do anime. I don't see a fraction of the "depth" some people claim it has, and as far as I can tell, it's just about fast-moving images and twisted and/or over-the-top violence for the sake of…well, I'm not sure.
Maybe it's just what I've seen, but whatever.
Ben, there's a whole other world of anime that skips that crap. Of course it has no depth either, it's like candy. No real nutritional value, but it tastes good.
I'm looking forward to MoH review, I need my dose of shooter now.
Hmmm… played the Lara Croft Demo. While it wasn't the latest greatest third person game, it was a decent enough arcade game. Might be worth a purchase if you want a more arcade-like game to play.
I picked up Atelier Rorona this week. I actually had to give in and get it from GameStop. Ugh! However they had the GameStop special edition that comes with the artbook (hardback) for the game as a free pack-in. I'm enjoying the game, it's got way more plot that something like Cross Edge, but not enough story to really grab you. There's enough to keep you moving through it though. My wife was disappointed, she likes the look of the game, but the shallow story and repetitive monsters just put her off. She just wants more story and character to drive the game and not so much the combat. The characters are fine, though I have a hard time believing that the lead character is 17 and her best friend is 16. Hey, whatever, anime art is very deceptive when it comes to age. It's a nice game because it balances strategy, planning, organization and doesn't let you relax, because when you do, you miss a mission.
Not sure about Move's success, I was hoping for faster sales. Too many gullible people are buying into the mystique and over-stated functionality of Kinect for my liking. I even read a review recently of Move that suggested that the Wii was better somehow. Though I think that the argument basically came down to having Mario and Zelda.
Gran Turismo 5 beckons, as does Need For Speed Hot Pursuit.
Haven't tried it yet but highlander the main characters original age was 14 but they changed it for the american release. If that helps.
Yeah, I found the original game artbook the other day and all the characters were aged by 3 years for the Western market. It's funny to me, but I know that in terms of Western cultures, 17 is more acceptable for Rorona's role than 14 would be.
Halo:Reach does have a good story doesn't it. And as for move ill definitely buy it before the years up and ill definitely use it for a bunch of games but unlikely ill use it for shooters unless it was specifically made for move.
Well, no…not really a good story, per se, but it's a great campaign for gameplay purposes. It has just about everything I'd want.
Ben, so is NFS Hot Pursuit's review coming together as well?
Not sure what you mean by "coming together," but of course we're going to review it.
I meant that are you gonna throw multiple reviews all at once?
I'm on my NG++ in Demon's Souls and it is incredibly EASY!!! I use a Crushing Long Sword, and I have a strength of 60, so the damage I deal is HUGE. Now I just have to get Pure White Character Tendency so I can get the friend's ring, but I'm currently on Pure black character tendency, so that menas two more playtroughs.
What soul level are you in at the moment?