SteelAttack said:

aspro said:

SteelAttack said:

aspro said:

Dvader said:

I have such hatred for the PSP right now after I watch those MGS Peace Walker vids. Why in the hell is Kojima putting all this effort into that, a PSP game are you kidding me.  You create a co-op MGS experience, you add so many new gameplay elements and items and you WASTE IT ALL ON THE PSP!! ARRRRRRRGGHHHHHH!!!!

This better come to the PS2.

Quit being a baby and buy a damn PSP and 360.  There are plenty enough good games on the PSP.

He dislikes portables.

I guess.  I can't judge him, until a couple of years ago I avoided handhelds as well (as serious game platforms).  But now, I'll never go back.  Handhelds are great for when you can't sit in front of your couch.  

It's funny. When I gave my daughter a DS Lite, I thought I would go crazy buying all kinds of games for it, but it didn't happen. Just not my thing. I tend to get some eyestrain and headaches easily, and trying to focus on a tiny screen just worsens things.

 I find myself holding the system closer and closer to my head.  And I'm getting the XL  When I was anti-handheld I had the problem of not being able to mentally focus, to close out everything else.  

Dvader said:

aspro said:

So how about Bad Company2?  2.3 Million so far in March...

Worldwide, nice. FF had 5 million already. I am sure Pokemon sold more than that already. I expect GoW3 to have 3 million or more worldwide this month. EA is wrong in thinking it will be tops in NPD.

 Yeah, Pokemon would have to be #1, given the install base. 

ASK_Story said:

I'm very glad for those numbers! Which means the game will have longevity and support. I can't wait for more maps and maybe more weapons...

 What will you do if the mappack for BBC2 is $15?

Dvader said:

aspro said:

So how about Bad Company2?  2.3 Million so far in March...

I expect GoW3 to have 3 million or more worldwide this month.

Unless Dante's Inferno sells more!

Iga_Bobovic said:

Dvader said:

Iga_Bobovic said:

Foolz said:

Dvader said:

edgecrusher said:

Anyway, "its a good time to be a gamer".

It is, it really is. I should try to play nothing but 9 score games this whole year, I bet I can and still have way too many games to play. We have reached the point where so many games are perfectly polished, everything is well designed. And yet nothing feels that new or different.

Take GoW3, I am loving it. Visually its on a different level than anything I have seen before but it plays for the most part just like GoW2. So even though what I am watching is incredible what I playing still feels like what I played 3 years ago. Even though GoW3 has moments that is more epic than any game I can think of it somehow feels safe, it's kind of crazy. A lot of games feel that way. The visual aspect is going to reach a cap, a point where no matter how impressive it isn't enough to sustain a full generation.

That's because you don't play many Wii games.

Yeah Vader, if you keep playing the same type of games over and over again things will feel a bit familiar.

The are plenty of games on the Wii, DS, PC and even the PS3 that do things differently.

I dont want to play different genres, I want my favorite genres to feel different. If the Wii actually had different action games, or different platformers (and it does, Mario Galaxy) or different action/adventure games then I would be all over it, but its usually the same stuff, and usually worse.  I want that feeling a got when I first played RE4, that brand new kind of shooter. Or the first time I played Prime. Or something like MGS where each game feels very different from the last and it always surprises me.

Read and see that I also filled in PS3, DS and PC. You better buy Valkyria Chronicles or else !!!

About different platformers. There is de Blob which you already have, Wario Land you already rented and finished. What about a Boy and his Blob? It is a platformer with some nice puzzles. Get it for a hobo price. And get Icarian, it a good platformer and it is different.

Action/adventure is too vague of a genre, but you will probably buy Zelda Wii and Other M.

Action, get Zeno Clash on the PC or perhaps Red Steel 2 if it is actually good.

I have Valkyria Chronicles, I just need to play it.

Boy and Blob is at a nice hobo price but is it really a platformer or a puzzle game, or some weird mix of both. I dont know. I want Icarian.

PROBABLY buy Zelda or Metroid...   

Red Steel 2 is on my radar.

Updating now.

Edgecrusher:

Perfect Dark

Review by David Jenkins – Halo might like to pretend it was the first successful first person shooter on consoles but eight million copies of GoldenEye 007 on the N64 beg to differ.

It should have been the start of Nintendo, or at least Rare's domination of the genre but it never quite worked out that way.

And that despite the breathless ambition of this spiritual sequel.

Like 4J Studios's Banjo-Kazooie remakes this is still exactly the same game as released in 2000, except with online play, an increase in resolution and a new silky smooth frame rate.

The latter was one of the most serious problems with the original.

The other though was the story mode, which was inferior to GoldenEye 007 in terms of both design and its insipid characters, plot and game world.

Although Rare's games featured complex, story-based objectives long before any PC based shooter, in Perfect Dark the implementation was always flawed.

It's often unclear what exactly you're supposed to be doing and the level design is, thanks in part to the repetitious textures, highly confusing.

And yet it's still far more imaginative than many modern games, with stealth elements and plenty of sci-fi gadgets.

The armoury of weapons in particular shames most other titles before or since. (Add in fellow N64 game Turok 2 and modern shooter armouries seem even more pathetically unimaginative).

Not only is there a wide range of traditional weapons but almost all have an interesting secondary function.

This includes the Laptop Gun, which you can stick to walls as an autoturret, or the X-ray vision equipped Farsight.

Even at the time the main appeal of the game was the multiplayer and again the sheer ambition and depth of options is well above the norm even today.

There's a wide range of game modes, from simple deathmatch to capture the flag and assassination variants.

Level design is excellent, the customisation options are immense and, unlike most modern games, you can play it splitscreen or online - or both.

Online play is currently quite laggy but even if that's fixed it's still going to be hard for anyone that didn't play the original to get on board.

A facsimile of the original controls makes fine aiming frustratingly imprecise, even though the game was originally designed to compensate.

The alternative options based on Halo and Call Of Duty are only half successful compromises.

On top of the competitive multiplayer there's also a co-op mode where you play the single player mode either as an ally or as any of the enemies.

These were throwaway novelties at the time and aren't terribly well implemented, but again the willingness to experiment is admirable.

And that's really this re-release's great achievement: to show how lazy and unambitious most modern shooters are.

IN SHORT: Only nostalgiaists will want to play it at length but this shames modern shooters with its ambition.

PROS: A near infinite range of game modes and options, with one of the best armouries in gaming. Nice low price.

CONS: Weak single player, especially compared to GoldenEye 007. Imprecise controls and some online issues.

RETRO SCORE: 4/5 Out: Now (Online)

Sega's Mike Hayes Pt. 2
18-Mar-2010

Interview: The Sega West boss talks PS3 Move, 3D gaming and E3...

In yesterday's first instalment of CVG's exclusive interview with Sega West boss Mike Hayes, the exec told us all about the publisher's new strategy for hardcore and casual games.

In this second and final part, Hayes discusses the behemoth that is E3 - as well as Sega's approach to PS3 Move and the future of the Total War series...

Do you think Natal in particular will ever be used for a hardcore game by Sega?
We have to be very realistic with what these devices do and what the consumer wants them to do. I know a lot of people quoted the idea of a mini-game lobbing hand grenades using motion and that sounds fun.

But I think it's horses for courses: Do we want to look at hybrid games? Yes. But do they have to be highly relevant? That absolutely is the case. People are mostly happy with a control pad.

[Would we consider] taking a game like Ghost Squad, which is a bit more fun and arcadey, [and moving it to Natal]? Perhaps. Again, I think first party will give us a lead on that.

Is it unfair to compare PS3's motion controller to the Wiimote?
Yes, I think that is unfair. Let's not forget that Sony has launched hugely successful peripherals before. Whether it's EyeToy or its controllers, Sony has been there and had great success.

But also, how bad is a comparison with Wii? It's one of the most successful consoles of all time. For something like PlayStation 3, that surely allows a motion controller to do some pretty great things.

We don't have a crystal ball, but would I bet a lot of my salary on Microsoft and Sony will make a success of these devices? I think the chances are high.

Microsoft are clearly taking Natal very seriously and spending a lot of money on it. Sony are doing the same - and they have the track record to go with it.

What about 3D? What hopes do you have for its future?
We've all been to see Avatar, and it's an amazing experience. It's rather like CGI movies - when they first came along, they were incredible, but we got used to them. But how many CGI movies came out last year that actually didn't cut the mustard?

Gamers are so smart that technology's for technology's sake won't really wash except for that initial freakshow interest. We have to make sure we're giving the gamers a real enhanced experienced. The first few games to prove we can play in three dimensions will be amazing.

But eventually it will go back to what the story is, what the emotional connection is. It will just become: 'Oh, it's 3D again...' For us, we're still some way off 3D games until we can make one that's commercially viable.

Are there any gaps in the Sega portfolio? What about MMOs?
MMOs are feast or famine for publishers. Would we look at how we take existing franchises there? Yes. We've done Football Manager Live and that's been profitable. We've done 35,000 on that, which is a good fanbase.

People often ask if we'd take Total War in that direction and we're constantly looking at it, but MMO is a very competitive market. It goes back to the start of the interview - we want to get the core games right before anything else. We've got our shooter with AvP and our RPG with Alpha Protocol - we really want to make that into a franchise. That's the area where we need some success, to sequel-ise that.

If you think about it, we can sequel-ise Bayonetta, AVP, Alpha Protocol - if we can make a hit of something like Vanquish - then you add that to Football Manager and Virtua Tennis - we actually have a broad portfolio.

MadWorld was such a huge critical success. Would you look to bring a sequel out - perhaps on different formats?
As Blackadder would say: 'Yes... and no.'

It's something we've looked at and it's something we constantly talk about. But there are no firm things to discuss on that at the moment.

What's your strategy as far as core games on Wii go after the problems you had with MadWorld? Are you reducing your presence in that area?
No, not at all - you'll see that at E3. One of the things is whether they're super-mature - that's a different thing. But the Wii market is huge. Going for the super-hardcore? Probably, the answer is not. But do we think there are edgy games we can bring out on Wii? Yes.

Where do you see Total War going in future?
There is still a lot more we can do in the pure historic field. But we also think we can take things in another direction [with Total War] - obviously I can't give you any more there. But we want to branch into different areas. The fanbase knows we're trying to deliver more content through DLC and I think Napoleon is in a technical sense better than Empire. We're also expanding the team at Creative Assembly, which shows how much we think of that studio.

Will that new direction for Total War come from an influence from another genre?
Partly, yes. Moving swiftly on...

How big do you think E3 will be this year?
E3 is something you have to do and we'll do it properly this year - and we are a proud member of the ESA so we'll get behind it. However, we are still slightly concerned about getting back into the 'arms race'. The costs of running E3 are still something we baulk at.

But we know we have to do it as Sega, and we have a ton of product to show. To not be there would be ridiculous. Could we spend that money more efficiently [on promoting games] to the consumer? The answer is probably yes. That's always the operator's frustration - but it goes for a lot of trade shows.