Ben-DutkaAnother busy week with more reviews but hey, 'tis the season.
Mirror's Edge 2 in development? That makes my day
I was one of the biggest fans of the original. Although it had some flaws, I thought it laid an appropriate foundation for a really fantastic, fully realized sequel. Free running remains one of the most promising new mechanics I've seen this generation, and although we've seen variations of it in other titles, nothing has quite aspired to such heights…pun intended. For several years now, they've talked about a follow-up effort; DICE has said they want to do it and EA has never ruled out the possibility. But now it seems we've got the first pseudo-confirmation from a former EA staffer, who says it's basically common knowledge that Mirror's Edge 2 is currently in development. However, one has to wonder:
Are we looking at a next-gen project or something that will launch for the PS3 and 360? Personally, I'm hoping for next-gen. Free running is definitely a mechanic that can use all the technical assistance it can get; with the benefit of new hardware and DICE at the helm (Frostbite 3?), you might end up with an absolute mind-blowing masterpiece to kick off the next generation of consoles. Of course, even if it does arrive for the new PlayStation or Xbox, one would have to assume it'll also be available for the current consoles. But this is one game I'd have to see on a new system.
"Hot Coffee" scandal proves that not all publicity is positive
It was interesting to read Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser's intriguing statements concerning the "Hot Coffee" sex scandal from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas . The company obviously had a difficult time dealing with the backlash, and it clearly went beyond the estimated $50 million they spent dealing with that outcry. It obviously had a distinct and lasting impact on a lot of people at Rockstar, and it seems like they took it badly. Thing is, the game had already been out and sold a ton of copies, so it's not like this publicity really helped push sales. I really don't see how this helped the studio – or publisher Take-Two – in the slightest, which sorta proves that not all publicity is good publicity.
It's true that controversial products typically sell more simply due to the fact that they're controversial, but in the case of San Andreas , it was already a GTA game…heck, controversy everywhere to start. It didn't require additional controversy, right? That whole mess only put a damper on everything, as far as I'm concerned, and that viewpoint seems reflected in Houser's statements. By the way, just to clarify: I never saw what all the hubbub was about; I just played San Andreas and that was that.
Personal gaming update
Still got a bunch of reviews to do so I haven't been able to really play anything I want. Got back into echochrome to keep my brain working (and to remind myself that there are still some highly unique, ingenious, challenging games out there), and I will probably try to finish up Hitman: Absolution at some point. Next up comes reviews for Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault and – I'm hoping – the Silent Hill game for the Vita. Looking forward, the last big title of the season is looming large on the horizon; it's Far Cry 3 , which is slated to drop on December 4. It should be one of the best games of 2012 and even though I wasn't the biggest fan of FC2, I expect to enjoy the new sequel.
You can also expect another giveaway; the next will involve signing up for our newsletter, which typically goes out twice a week. After we transitioned the server for the newsletter, people had to sign up again and we want to make sure that we reach as many readers as possible. Signing up is easy enough; just go here and do what you gotta do. Simple. And it could net you a freebie of some kind! Not sure what yet, but I'll let you know tomorrow night… Might be a combined game/soundtrack giveaway or something along those lines, I think.
Mirror's Edge was a game I always wanted to get around to but just never happened. I see it pretty cheap regularly, like $5 cheap, maybe I'll snag it some day.
I'm eager to read more about Far Cry 3. I've already seen some pretty outstanding comments about it's single player stuff so I find myself pretty excited for it's success. I did love the first game, and enjoyed the second one a good deal too.
PGU: I've been all over the map this week. I'm a healthy 6 or 7 hours in on Xenogears. I also started doing a little Rage this week on my PC. It's enjoyable stuff. AC3 finally showed up in my mail today. I've just got done placing a couple hours into it, or so. I'm hoping to spend more time with it in the coming week if school allows. It definitely feels like a new game in the series and not a rehash of the very familiar AC2 spin offs. I'm interested to see and play more.
Last edited by Temjin001 on 11/25/2012 12:25:04 AM
Ac3 gets great once you get full control of Conner. I'm so glad they used a new engine. No screen tearing! Wooho! This one by far is the best in the series.
AC3 just gets better and better as you play it. The best in the series, easy.
I like it, but Brotherhood is still my champion by a mile. AC3 is fun, but after finishing the story, I think it's made me less excited about the franchise than I was prior to it.
Thanks guys. I like how they've invested deeper into story telling and it's characters.
PGU: Been going back and forth between Mario U and AC3. Both games are a blast and AC3 runs smooth on the gamepad. Seems like the frames per second increase when playing on the gamepad.
I only played the demo for Mirrors Edge. I thought it was fun, but didn't see enough to buy it. Don't know if I'd get the second or not if and when it comes.
Really interested in Far Cry 3 for the co-op. Other than that, not so much. That's how I felt with RDR and that game just turned out to be… Well, we all know how that one turned out. So Far Cry 3 may surprise me. But I won't be getting it unfortunately, due to the games I've picked up over the past month.
PGU: So I havnt played RE6 in awhile because of NFS, but I havnt played NFS for awhile because of Borderlands 2 and I'm simultaneously playing that and AC3 right now. I also picked up Dead Island, LBP Karting and Dishonored super cheap. Only put in LBP Karting and it's LBP with Karts. Havnt played enough but I'd say it's a better effort than Mod Nation (which I loved) only because of the creativity that Media Molecule provides the consumer who ultimately takes that creativity and makes it their own.
Deffo want to try Mirror's Edge 2. The idea is just so unique and I enjoyed most of the first one, even if it was a bit flawed.
Personal Update:
I "finished" XCOM: Enemy Unknown a couple of hours ago. It's such an awesome game that I'm really, really tempted to just start a new game and keep killing aliens. I love it. Unfortunately, it isn't going to happen right now; other games beckon. Not sure what I'll jump to, but Yakuza 4 is looking mighty tempting.
Also finished Atlas Shrugged the other day. I have to say that I really, really enjoyed it. Can't say that I agree with everything about the doctrine of Objectivism that it outlines, but there is a lot that makes a startling amount of sense. That leaves me with only two unread books on my shelf: War and Peace and The Gunslinger. I'm gonna tackle the latter first, just because.
And I decided to scrap what I've been trying to write for the last two years. I went into it too unprepared and paid the price by allowing it to become too discontinuous. In short, I'm starting over, incorporating many of the same ideas but with careful planning to make sure that it doesn't get too big for itself, if that makes any sense. *Sigh* Now for another two years… Hopefully I can get it finished this time :/
Maybe you should just set your work aside (not chuck it altogether)and write something else. Then come back to it as a guide some day and pick the good from the bad points.
I did consider thay, and there are other ideas floating around in my head, but for some bizarre reason I just have a burning desire to get this one out first, before I can feel confident enough in my ability to get the others done.
Far Cry 3 is pulling some solid reviews already, that'll be hard to wait on.
I'm playing Dragon's Dogma; can't wait to see them hone this process further in a sequel on next gen hardware.
i so cant wait for ME2 to release!
i just hope they have opened up the levels a hell of allot more, otherwise no thanks cancel the game and bring us BFBC3!
mirrors edge only works as a open world platformer, if your going to put us in a car park with 100000 cops shooting at us and theres no where we can go except run past them than forget it!
its so disappointing hitman has turned out the way it has.
i was really worried it was going to turn out like your typical mindless shooter, and im sad to say i was half right.
one thing i really cant understand, its like 2 different developers have made the game.
i really thought the sniping challenge would of been a part of the game, but i havent come across a level like it yet.
makes me wish IO would create a PSN game surrounding it, but a full game with a full story and multiple levels and environments.
i doubt eidos montreal is creating the next hitman game, but oh i so hope they are!
everything wrong with hitman was done so well in their last game, human revolution, so if they are it could make the perfect hitman game!
sad to say for now though, stealth is almost dead.
cant believe im saying this, but splinter cell conviction is STILL by FAR the best stealth game released this gen!
even ghost recon future soldier was a better stealth game than hitman.
sigh.
i cant wait for FC3 looks like oh so much fun!
but that said, its the pinnacle of whats wrong with sequels these days.
FC2 was so popular because of the new systems it added, the buddy system, the weapon jamming system, the health recovery system breaking bones and shoving a knife into your arm to retrieve bullets, the fire propagation system, EVERYTHING that made FC2 so awesome has been removed.
why?
sigh.
for ONCE can we have a sequel that does not completely remove everything that made its predecessor so great?
just once!?
sequels are suppose to carry over everything people liked, improve what they dident, and remove what you cant.
not chuck out everything people liked, improve what they dident, and remove what you cant.
every single god dam sequel has to throw out the best additions the series has seen!
why?
Last edited by ___________ on 11/25/2012 3:11:01 AM
You're right about Eidos Montreal not developing Hitman. It's S-E Montreal, a studio made specifically for the task, while Eidos continues Thief and, supposedly, Deus Ex.
Ben, I deleted my avatar and now it won't let me upload a new one. Could you please forward to the right person that this functionality is broken, and have it fixed? Not having an avatar is *killing* me (really, it is!).
To recreate: Under user panel, select "Do not show an avatar for me" and save it. That goes ok. Now try to select "Show an avatar for me" and upload a new avatar. You get an error message, "500 – Internal server error.
There is a problem with the resource you are looking for, and it cannot be displayed".
You can physically get the avatar uploaded (mine is "beamboom.jpg" and seem to be on the server) but it will never change from the default "NoAvatarUploaded.jpg", likely cause it fails right after the file is received.
Would be great if the right person (I know that's not you Ben) would take a look into this.
Last edited by Beamboom on 11/25/2012 4:17:36 AM
… And "log out" doesn't work anymore, either. There's some major fuckups in your code now, psxe. 🙂
Also, I tried to create a new account now but there's error messages all over the place, and no email confirmation is ever received, so if you guys got a lot of unconfirmed registration attempts these days, this is why.
Last edited by Beamboom on 11/25/2012 10:37:38 AM
It's also impossible for my friend to create an account. Just gets internal sever error (or something). He tried contacting the technical support guy for the site, but (ironically?) he gets another internal server error.
All right, we'll see what we can do.
Thank you. It's probably just a minor thing, after all it did work once upon a time.
You should be good to go now.
Mirror's Edge is one I passed on. Glad to hear they are making a sequel for the fans.
PGU:
I would be doing nothing but playing Far Cry 3 but……I have to wait. I sure hope it comes out on the PSN since I am broke but have $60 in PSN wallet. So PSASBR and BOII will have to suffice.
Going to start XCOM this week, really looking forward to that. Strategy sounds really good right now. Cannot wait to see what this game is all about.
I had gotten Mirror's Edge a while back on the cheap but I still haven't played it yet, so I don't know what to expect from it.
As for the Hot Coffee controversy, I was lucky enough to get both the HC version, and the later re-done version with all the hidden stuff taken out.
My own PGU….
Due to being out of work for so long, I just don't have the funds to spare anymore to buy current titles(even with it being Black Friday/Cyber Monday week).
But at least the good thing for me is that I still earn four $25 GameStop cards every year doing consumer surveys, and I saved up my last two $25 cards hoping that GS would have a great Black Friday sale on Borderlands 2, AC 3, & Dishonored,
But they really didn't compared to everyone else who was selling AC3 & Dishonored for $25(GS's sorry-a$$ed sale was a disappointing $5 to $10 more).
But all was not lost though, cause GS DID have their Buy 2, Get 1 Free "used" sale at the same time, plus a decent drop in prices on some fairly recent games.
So with my rewards card, which I also got an additional extra 10% off, I was able to pick up "Max Payne 3", "Shadows Of The Damned", & "Ghost Recon: Future soldier", in which also including the free game, it only wound up about $11.33 each for all 3.
Plus I've still got over $14 left on my card and I'll also be getting another $25 card in January, so hopefully GS will have another B2,G1F sale come up right after that so I'll be able to do another "3 games for $30" deal.
Re: Reviews… "I'm hoping – the Silent Hill game for the Vita" = woohoo!
Never got into Mirror's Edge. Perhaps I'll see what the new installment has to offer then decide.
I liked Far Cry 2 but it was a maximum 7/10 game for me. Very repetitive and the enemy respawning was infuriating. Also I expected them to really work on that Jackal storyline, the one they pushed in the trailers, but nothing much materialised. FC2 was crying out for, but seriously lacked boss battles as well.
FC3 is looking very, very promising.
PGU: Trying to complete the single player campaign on Blops2. I put a few hours into the multiplayer and still prefer Infinity Ward's version. I don't know if other Blopsers feel the same, but it feels as if the game "penalises" you for having an excellent broadband connection and hosting the game. I tend to see my enemies half a second after they see me if the deathcam replays are correct. I had the same problem with Blops 1 and I have DL'd the HD textures.
The zombies mode for me = "same old". Childish and pointless; getting stale real quick.
Last edited by Dukemz_UK on 11/25/2012 2:42:28 PM
I never understood the "hot coffee" scandal either. It's GTA, a game that allows you beatdown and kill prostitutes, but the freak out is over consensual sex. I never got it.
PGU: Still playing Borderlands 2, just can't seem to put it down. About halfway through the game on TVHM, plus got stories in both of the DLC campaigns started. IMO the best game to release this year.
I don't understand all the love for Mirrors Edge. Great premise, but halfway through, it was not a fun game anymore.
true but it had promise
I agree, it was more the promise than the actual game for me too.
Mirror's Edge blossoms when you return to it and dig deeper into all the game has to offer. It's not a once-through-seen-all-there-is type of thing. It's a title that really lets the gameplay shine, if you let it. Hard mode is the only way to play, and after that, speed runs and time trials can eat your life. The free running system which DICE built is extraordinarily deep and subtle, with stuff in it that you simply don't learn on one playthrough. If you're looking for the best of Mirror's Edge in the story mode, you're looking in the wrong place. It is a loving gift to the old-school OCD style of gaming.
Once through the story mode is fine and fun, but it's not where the love comes from. Not much else in gaming today can match the massive thrill of a perfectly executed, super-fast run in the time trials or speed runs.