So, normally I wait until I’m done with a game before I right a review for the site. This means once the review goes up, I’m generally onto the next game. According a FAQ for Litle Big Planet, I’m about 3/4 of the way through the single player and I’ve been frustrated as hell by a specific level.
Frustrated is kind of being nice about it. It’s pissing me off. I reached a similar point in Super Mario Galaxy when I hit the mechano toy robot levels of that otherwise enjoyable game. Some people call this the shelf moment which is “the moment when you take the game out and put it back on the shelf, never to be touched again.” I felt that I had done all i was ever going to do in LBP, but something in me is saying, give it another go. I will probably do that sometime this week since I’d like to finish the game.
Next on the list is Left 4 Dead, which I’ve gotten on PC. I’m glad it cost me a whole lot less than the retail price since it’s pretty clear that it really isn’t my sort of game. I don’t know what it is about Valve multiplayer games that they never gel with me. I love the single player games like HL, HL2 and Portal, but Counter Strike, Team Fortress 2 and now this just don’t seem to be my game. I will play it for a few more sessions though since some games don’t always click with me the very first time I play.
Guitar Hero World Tour has been getting a bit of a play recently (It is the subject of our next and probably most awkward Focus Test). I’ve been mostly playing with others this last week. Yesterday, I played with some colleagues who’d never played the game before and they had a blast. We also went through some songs in the Rock Band AC DC play list. This was the only Rock Band title I was able to procure, alas too late for the Focus Test. It is very interesting to compare the two games sinc ethey basically do the exact same thing, but in a slightly different way.
And of course Call of Duty World at War has been getting a going over. I’ve been playing the Night of the Undead mode a few times this week and loving it to bits (Which is why Left 4 Dead leaving me a bit cold is surprising me). But I still can’t get online on the PC version so I’ve been playing some more CoD4 Team Deathmatch on PC. You know something? I so rarely did well on the PC servers before CoD WaW came out but In the few games I played since I came back, I’ve generally been in the top 3 of most games. Is it because the good players have migrated to WaW? We’ll see.
I’m starting to develop a pile of shame. I have more GHWT to master, and now the ACDC Rock Band (Which I assume allows me to sample the DLC for this game), Mirror’s Edge (PS3), Get some fun out of L4D, play more CoD WaW (360 and PC) and then find time for Prince of Persia, Fallout 3 and Banjo Kazooie.
Well our look back on the big hitters continues (part one can be found here)
THE BIG SOUL CALIBUR IV (360, PS3)
This game hit in July at a time when there weren’t that many big games coming out. SCIV proved to be a decent hit despite having Star Wars characters muddying the waters for the hardcore.
SPORE (PC, MAC, DS)
Will Wright’s latest formed the basis of who-knows how many GDC keynotes over the last few years. It came and made a huge splash, and then the complaining began. Spore promised something unconventional, but delivered a compilation of other games.
LEGO BATMAN (everything. Colecovision coming 2009)
Lego Conquest of gaming continues. Its not linked to the Dark Knight, more based on the comics (but with some cues from the 80s/90′s Batman films. And its more or less identical on every platform. You liked Lego Indy, right? You liked Lego Star Wars, right? You like Lego, right? You like Batman, right? Then here’s a game you will like.
SAINT’S ROW 2
Despite smelling of xerox toner, this series has managed to carve a small niche of its own. It fixes some GTA flaws, adds its own and has its own slightly off tone to the proceedings that 13 year old boys love. They wanna play at gangstas, not soldiers.
FAR CRY 2
Another sandbox shooter. This time, its set in Africa and not as much fun as the original console Far Cry. We will focus test this title over Christmas so subscribe to the Focus Test through the links at the right of the page
DEAD SPACE (PS3, PC, 360)
EA’s new survival horror greatest hits game impressed those that played it. A sequel, while not ruled out might have to wait for these guys to finish the Dante’s Inferno game just announced.
FABLE II
Wow, they managed to outdo the original and also managed to deliver on a fair amount of the hype. The amount of complaining that usually arises after a hyped game hasn’t been as bad as say, Spore, but then maybe Molyneux’s learned his lesson. “My next game will be bigger than Jesus’ balls”
Oops, spoke too soon. REVIEW
ROCK BAND 2 and GUITAR HERO WORLD TOUR
I’m lumping these together for a simple reason. There are only really superficial differences between these games. RB is more fun off the bat if you just wanna play every song where GHWT makes you work for the cooler songs. GHWT has some extra pads on the drum kit and the song creator. The song creator is an absolute abomination to use with the controllers.
MIRROR’S EDGE (PS3, PS3)
Wow, this was meant to be the second coming before it came out to mixed reviews and stagnant sales. Clint loved this in the podcast and we will be posting a written review in the new year. The way EA talks about this game now in business circles does not bode well for the future of the series.
LITTLE BIG PLANET (PS3)
Remember when I said GTA IV was the most overrated game of the year? Well, meet number 2.
Little big planet is a fun platformer with a ton of replayability (if you want everything) and those
tools for making your own levels. However, to call it Game of the year is misleading as the make your own level is a toy. I played a few levels that had been posted online and was amused more than impressed. Is it youtube for gaming? Yes, in the same way You Tube is filled with Videoblogs from people whose emo angst you don’t give a fuck about. Is it worth buying a PS3 for? No. Is it worth getting if you already have a PS3? Hell yes. Its a cool platformer with some infuriating difficulty in later levels. REVIEW
GEARS OF WAR 2 (360)
Why lie? I loved this game. So do the guys who play this on Live. That is when the matchmaker service actually works. Horde mode is fantastic and a lot of fun and the single player managed to do enough new and different than the original (which I liked but not loved) REVIEW
RESISTANCE 2 (PS3)
Another on on my list to play when time is available. R2 features, by some accounts, excellent multiplayer, great coop and so-so single player. Its been outsold by our next contender, but if you only buy one alternative universe WWII shooter, don’t buy a used copy of Resistance: Fall of Man cos that’s shit, get Resistance 2.
CALL OF DUTY WORLD AT WAR (PC, PS3, 360, Wii, PS2, DS, PSP)
The haters expected to hate it. Most of those who’ve migrated from CoD4 are finding it like minded but different enough for it to be a draw. Back to WWII with M1 Garands, KAR98′s and Thommy guns. BLISS! Its a pity Activision couldn’t have actually supported CoD4 properly a bit longer with map packs and the like. I mean, it’s not like they don’t like money. REVIEW
WORLD OF WARCRAFT: WRATH OF THE LICH KING (PC)
Well, it makes money hand over fist. The WoW fans love it and are lapping it up. They’ve even made it easy for people who’ve never played WoW to step in (you know the type, gank fodder and people with jobs/ sex lives)
LEFT 4 DEAD (PC, 360)
Left for Dead is the Horde Mode in Gears 2 and the Nazi Zombie mode from CoD WaW and is a whole game based around it. The thing is, its full price and compared to orange box, which offered so much more, it hard to say this is a good value proposition. OB was great on console apart from TF2 which sucked ass since Valve don’t seem capable of coding an XBL game.
De Blob (Wii)
Hey I was writing this and thinking to myself “were there any decent Wii games from the second half of 2008?” Well, there’s De Blob. Paint the town red. Or green. Or Blue.
Animal Crossing: City Folk (Wii)
This game seems to be going down very will south of the Mason Dixon line. Who knew?
Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts (360)
Well, I was a HUGE fan of the originals back in the N64 days but yet I still haven’t picked this one up despite its cheapness. Why? I will, I promise. Building things- not my forte (see LBP) but the Banjo universe has always held a special charm.
Prince of Persia (PC, PS3, 360)
Well, there I was all set to ignore this title. I was fooled by PoP Warrior Within and Two Thrones. I even lowered my guard and bought Assassin’s creed (eventually). I was done with Ubisoft games for a bit. Then its come out and wowed everyone. So now I will play it. You should probably take a look as well. If this comes close to replicating the bliss I found in POP: Sands of Time, I will be happy.
Fallout 3. (360, PC, PS3)
I’ve been looking forward to this one for a while. I ‘d have played it by now if time had been available and Fable II hadn’t turned up first. Its a huge city full of choices and spoilers. Play this when you can.
AND THEN THERE’S…
Dazed and Confused: Guitar Hero Aerosmith (everything bar the 3DO)
Yes I bought this and it was fun enough for what it was. Its the last guitar only Guitar Hero game to be released and I don’t mind this band’s catalogue but there’s not enough material to fill a full priced game with no DLC and no compatibility with the new GHWT games.
BROTHERS IN ARMS (360, PC, PS3)
Too late, Too dated and Too Meh. Its not because its a WWII game, its because its just not as much fun as the other WWII games.
FACEBREAKERS
EA’s Boxing game took a dive in the third quarter.
MERCENARIES 2
It has its it champions. A month or two earlier and it could have gained some traction
FRACTURE
Oh dear. A case where the central tenet of the game is destroyed by a Penny Arcade Comic
PS- some games not mentioned for ethical reasons. We don’t write about projects we’re involved with.
Jesus, it seemed like a good idea at the start.
oh wait, you think I forgot Too Human? TOO HUMAN (360). Oh dear. What’s to be said that hasn’t already been said.
Reviewed on PS3. Developed by Media Molecule. Published by SCEE.
We have to clear the air before we continue…
Firstly, despite the will of some people, Little Big Planet is not the game that makes people buy PS3′s in huge numbers. Secondly, although you can make levels, you can make really shitty levels. Thirdly its a good game.
Little Big Planet is a side scrolling platformer. You move from one end of a level to the other, using the world in various ways, using simple machines, sometimes with infuriating physics puzzles. But, it does play a lot lot the old 2D Mario games. You collect all manner of trinkets as you play, such as stickers (some of which are needed for puzzles- at least in the early part of the game, objects, textures and clothing for your playable character. A little cutie known as Sack Boy (or Sack Girl).
Sackboy only has a limited suite of moves. He can walk and run. He can grab (which combined with walking or running can operate switches and push/pull items) and he has his popit button. As so much o fthe game is based around a realistic physics model, you’ll find that it gets to be quite a hard and challenging platformer later on. Frustrating and infuriating beyond belief.
The popit button just brings up a menu with all of the items you have collected so that you can decorate your sack person at any stage. You can also deface the levels with stickers if you must. The levels are teeming with baubles containing some new element. Some of them in ridiculously difficult to get at spaces which seems to be why puzzles based on fitting the correct sticker seem to be less important as the game wears on. You basically see a cartboard cutout with what looks like a chip- similar to those you see on some credit cards. If you have the correct sticker in your inventory, you may be able to unlock a new area. I believe a lot of what you collect may be useful to you if you choose to make your own levels.
I found that as I progressed through the game, I became less concerned with collecting all o fthe baubles and more concerned just getting through to the end of the level. My main reason for this is the checkpoint system. You pass what looks and sounds like a gong and you get 4 attempts at getting to the next checkpoint before getting booted back to the start of the level. Hey guess what MM? The game stops being fun when you have to trawl through some of the longer levels over and over when you can’t get to the penultimate checkpoint of a level.
There are some sections that you can play as coop with a second sack person (or as we say these days, a Person of Sack) but really what a lot of people have gone gaga over is the level creation. You can make a level and put it on the web. And if it infringes on ANYONE’s copyright or might possibly infringe on someone’s copyright, it will be removed. The level creator requires you to sit through a rather long tutorial and its necessary since its actually quite a hard thing to acocomplish. I baulked at the price of entry so I downloaded some levels other people had made. One was supposedly Ghostbusters and the other was Metal Gear Sacklid. They were somewhat cruder than the MM levels but they got the job done. Just. But maybe the single player is all I needed to get out of the game.
The graphics are rather pretty and cute (if a little blurry) and the musical score is very hypnotic and memorable. And of course, since there are only four attempts per checkpoint before you have to restart the level- the music firstly becomes highly repetitive and then highly annoying.
LBP will spawn a PSP version and most likely a PS3 sequel. I like the game but I can’t call it a system seller but every PS3 owner should get it (especially since it seems to be discounted in some online retailers). If you like 2D platformers and own a PS3, get this. If you want to make your own levels and you already own a PS3, get this.
Its that time of the year of the year 2008 (stop that!). Gaming mags and websites are running their Games of the year awards. Controller1.com is only a small site and we don’t play everything under the sun but we’d like to see what you think.
This year was one where the heavy hitters were more evenly spaced out through the year. We’ll start by looking at the bigger games that came out in January, February and March 2008.
THE GOOD Burnout Paradise (360 and PS3)
The only driving game that was so much fun that even non-racing fans could find enough to enjoy to justify a purchase. No retry button but the scale and depth of the game is amazing. You don’t have to be a hardcore racing fan to get a kick out of this game. From races, Takedowns, marked man, burning route (time trials in specific cars) and stunt modes, this game keeps on giving. Criterion and EA have been very good to fans of the series in so far as the many numerous FREE updates have all brought new content and challenges. REVIEW
DEVIL MAY CRY 4 (360, PS3 and PC)
Some people really love the Devil May Cry series. Think about it, we wouldn’t have God of War without Devil May Cry. That said, now that Jaffe has the recipe, did we need DMC4? DMC fans liked this latest epic- the first game to have a long mandatory install before you started to play on PS3, yet the benefits over the 360 version were barely noticeable.
ARMY OF TWO (360, PS3)
EA Montreal’s coop-focused shooter was the butt(grab) of many jokes in the lead up to its release. It was famously retooled somewhat during a delayed release. The final product is slightly schizophrenic- It doesn’t know if it wasn’t to be a serious shooter with a political message or a braid dead action movie. It tries to be both and manages to still be fun (apart from the being dragged to cover mechanic when your health is low). This game actually sold quite well (on 360 at least) so a sequel “Army of Too” might turn up at some stage. Not essential but worth a play if you like coop. REVIEW
TOM CLANCY’S RAINBOW SIX VEGAS 2 (360, PC, PS3)
The first Vegas game was one of the best R6 games released since Ubisoft bought Red Storm. The sequel is one of the worst. It’s so fucking bad that I hope eeryone involved in its production si struck down with terminal bad breath. This game stinks. AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE! Which plague, you might ask? Does it fucking matter? A Plague is a plague. It scored and sold very well, unlike the games in the “NOT SO GOOD” section where it belongs>.”
GRAND THEFT AUTO IV (360, PS3, PC)
So this was expected to be the biggest game of the year. It isn’t. Its a good game in its own right, maybe not as expansive and as much fun as San Andreas, but still great. It was very daring but at the same time, kept a lot of the stuff you hated about the old games, things that Crackdown and Saint’s Row managed to get right. Definitely the most overrated game of 2008 (a lot of people fell in love with the idea that this was a near perfect game when it came out but too many cracks appears all too quickly) but still at the least, a very good and even great game. You need to play GTA IV, just be aware its flaws aren’t always minor and easy to overlook.
LEGO INDIANA JONES
The Lego Star Wars releases show that you can make fun games for kids that adults will also respond well to. Lego Indy is perhaps a test to see how well the formula can survive with Jedi involved. Indiana Jones is a huge franchise in its own right and without a Next Gen version full of DMM and the like, this was the game that came out alongside (or near enough) the cinematic return of the Man with the Hat.
This game is highly playable on whatever system you have so go play it. REVIEW
And of course,
METAL GEAR SOLID 4 (PS3)
So this was meant to be the swansong of the series but its sold well enough for Konami to invoke the “Bitch” clause in Kojima’s contract. Its a great game. If you own a PS3 and don’t have this then go and get it, This is the reason you bought the damn thing. This game will also make you take up smoking. There’s so much attention to detail in the game that you can sometimes get overwhelmed with options. Here’s a hint, you don’t need 70% of the stuff you have at your disposal. REVIEW
BATTLEFIELD BAD COMPANY (360, PS3)
Not Battlefield Heroes, but a better version of Battlefield 2. It works phenomenally well on PS3 and 360 online. Oh and there’s a decent single player that’s a proper single player game and not just MP maps with bots. REVIEW
SID MEIER’S CIVILISATION REVOLUTION (DS, PS3, 360)
Our own Cam has been playing Civ games since he was in nappies. In fact he still is playing Civ games in nappies. Sid Meier on a console? Outrageous. But it worked. A review is apparently coming (better late than never).
THE NOT SO GOOD: THE CLUB (PC, 360 and PS3)- Sega and Bizarre Creations attempt to merge the Kudos systen from PGR and a shooter went largely unnoticed. A pity as the demo was fun and I still intend to pick this up (cheaply) to blast through its single player mode
FRONTLINES: FUEL OF WAR. (PC and 360) THQ and KAOS Studios’ version of Battlefield (some of the Kaos guys were originally behind the popular Battlefield 1942 mod Desert Combat) was not bad, but after a couple of demos and a stillborn PS3 version, the game was just a victim of too many better shooters already on the market. When you’re up against UT3, CoD4, Halo 3, Quake Wars, etc, you need to do something better and with more charm than the competition.
TUROK (360, PS3)
Well, this series was a really big deal back in the N64 days but Turok is not what it was. Actually, it was crap back then, so maybe it is exactly what it was.
HAZE (PS3) Ubisoft
Another overhyped failure, this game was meant to be the PS3′s top draw shooter until Resistance 2 and Killzone 2 appeared. It wasn’t. If you can talk about Haze on a message board without LOL appearing within 30 seconds, and your NOT on the “Official Haze website” you’re having a good day.
THE BOURNE CONSPIRACY (360, PS3) RENTAL OF THE YEAR!
Well no Matt Damon, no Jason Bourne. What’s the point? You might as well mocap Richard Chamberlain.
ALONE IN THE DARK (PC, PS3, 360, Wii, PS2)
Atari and its last remaining internal studio try to scare the shit out of us. They certainly scared the shit out of people who bought this. “Oh my god, I’m an idiot for buying this.”
QUAKE WARS (PC, PS3, 360)
It sorta fizzled on PC late last year and any remaing embers doused on 360 and PS3. Both console versions are to be avoided, for different reasons. The main reason to avoid it is because its Quake Wars.
and in a special sealed section on its own. THE NINTENDO WII
A trio of Nintendo releases headlines the Wii.
WiiFit: It may not be an 800 pound gorilla, but only because the balance board’s weight limit is 130kg. My mother, who doesn’t like videogames and rarely bought me games as gifts as a child wants a Wii Fit. She doesn’t want the Wii, just the WiiFit. We tried to tell her you couldn’t use the WiiFit without a Wii but she stopped listening at that stage. So she’s getting a Wiifit for Christmas without the required Wii. What the hell do I care?
Mario Kart Wii: Mario Kart was always a big franchise but for some reason the Wii version with its multitude of control schemes (somehow all less than optimal) has managed to outsell the sublime Super Mario Galaxy. Mario Kart on the DS is kinda the reason I hooked up with these bums to make podcasts back on angry-gamer.net. But I hate Mario Kart with a passion because of those fucking snakers. Yes you can’t do it apparently on the Wii, but hatred is a keeper.
Super Smash Brothers Brawl: When I used to play wifi DS games with friends on planes, a DS SSB was what i was hanging out for as a really good MP game. But its on the Wii and its very good for the sort of game genre that you don’t get many options for on the Wii.
there’s also: Boom Blox: Hey look, a third party Wii game. It did OK and is still selling decently (if not charting). Hey EA, make more Wii specific games designed fro the Wii.
Zak and Wiki: Puzzle game. Its a puzzle game. Its not the second coming of our lord and savior Mecha-Christ.
No More Heroes: Yes it was interesting to look at the character design. Then look at the backdrops and go driving around down. The combat was mashing buttons until you use the Wiimote for a finishing move. NEXT!
Playstation HOME, that is. So after about 50 attempts to log in, agreeing to the EULA three times and making a Mii, er, Avatar, er whatever version of myself, I’m HOME. It has the new car smell? Well, you know that new car smell? Even Kia’s have that new car smell and we all know how cool they are.
So I turn up in a stark sterile and sleek apartment overlooking a seaside town. Now I don’t know if everyone has the same view as my place but its a good bet. Its very sleek and cool. Its funny how all Sony marketing is about being cool and beautiful. Fun? Well, only if its cool and beautiful people. Your apartment is empty simple because you can BUY things like furniture and decorations for your fake apartment with REAL Money earned in the REAL world. Yes, you can stop laughing at people who make money as gold farmers since you’re expected to spend money.
There’s no gameplay in Home. You walk around. Of course, Home doesn’t download more than the areas you want to go in, so the first time you step outside, you are prompted to start a 77MB download. And then when you go over there, and in there. So unfortunately, you can’t do this overnight.
And then that’s it. You can then talk to the other metrosexuals (or people lieing about their weight) using your headset or with canned speech selected through your menu. At this point I got bored. I’m not big on things like Second Life or Habbo or any of that stuff so obviously this isn’t for me.
Will people in Home get together and go on epic raids? Will they form guilds? Will people get so lost in home that their real life relationships suffer. WILL PEOPLE BUY SHIT WITH REAL MONEY TO PUT FAKE CRAP IN THEIR FAKE APARTMENTS? Is this the first step to Better than Life as seen in TV’s Red Dwarf (or in the shitty book)?
I can’t see what you are meant to get out of HOME. Its free, but does that make it good?
Reviewed on PC (Single Player), Xbox 360 (multiplayer). Also on PS3, PS2, Wii, DS, PSP. Developed by Treyarch. Published by Activision.
So, despite the dire predictions of Call of Duty World at War being a total disappointment compared to Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat, Treyarch have surprised us all and delivered a worthy successor to the most popular CoD game of all time.
CoD WaW follows a US soldier in the Pacific being led by the hand by 24’s Keifer Sutherland interspersed with playing a Russian soldier in the final assault on Berlin. It doesn’t try to out do CoD4’s sniper mission or the Gunship level. It has its own slants to those CoD4 signatures and adds a tank level and flying boat level. The shooting is EXACTLY the same as that in CoD4, which is what everyone who loved CoD4 but wanted more asked for.
Keifer’s gravelly tones tell you to shoot that. You shoot it. He tells you to shoot that, you shoot. “Those Jap bastards,” he says and you aim and open fire. Flames are a big part of this game. You wield a deadly flame thrower in some levels, including one level where it subs for the machine gun on a Russian tank. The flame thrower is a really nice weapon- much more usable than the one in Gears 2. The weapons are typical WWII fare with KAR98, M1 Garand, Thompson SMG, etc but they handle very nicely. There are a few large battles where progress is a little more difficult since Treyarch love their “infinitely re-spawning enemies until you cross a threshold” trick but overall the level designs are solid and fun to play. You may not have been to these locales, but if you’ve played previous CoD4 games, you have played them.
You can play the campaign either by yourself or in coop mode and once you’ve beaten it you get the Zombie mode “Nacht der Untoten,” which is basically a short version of Left 4 Dead. It is awesomely fun and highly recommended to give it a go. Pity there aren’t more levels but I guarantee this will be expanded upon at some stage. I’ve found that I’m unable to get online in the PC version so I’ve been playing a few rounds of this before I boot up CoD4 every night. I love it.
Multiplayer offers the usual modes, Search and Destroy (CS), Capture the Flag and Deathmatch modes. I mainly play Team Deathmatch but it compares quite favorably with CoD 4 and CoD3 multiplayer (CoD3, also by Treyarch did feature excellent Multiplayer modes). If you’ve played CoD4 MP, then you know what to expect. Just substitute Recon plane for UAV, Artillery for Airstrike and Dogs for choppers. That’s right, get to 7 kills without dieing and you can unleash the dogs. So long as you have no problems shooting digital dogs in the head, you’ll have a blast. Think of it as retribution for all the times in Nintendogs when your Alsatian took a crap when you were walking it. One thing that makes me think of CoD3 is the fact you can drive tanks in multiplayer. Overall, highly enjoyable. They even used Keifer to announce “Team Deathmatch” when you play as an American.
Graphics are excellent. I mean, they are jaw droppingly gorgeous on PC and console versions. Even in multiplayer, the 360 version ran at a smooth as butter 60 frames per second. Sound is also excellent though the weapon are a bit weedier sounding than CoD4 (but at least the sounds are different). The Flash cutscenes opening each level are also interesting and different from what you’d expect in a WWII-set game.
Since FPS WWII games set in the Pacific are pretty thin on the ground, the only competition is really the two rather poor EA Medal of Honor games (Pacific Assault and Rising Sun) and this game just wipes away all memories of those travesties. So, no it isn’t better than CoD4. It is close in many respects and doesn’t fail in any one particular area. That said, its an entertaining game in its own right
controller1.com rating 2/3 (or 3/3 if you love Call of Duty games and can’t face any more CoD4 MW) As Keifer says when the Marines win a multiplayer game “Out-fucking-standing!”
I can barely see the screen I’m that giddy with excitement. This is probably the greatest thing to happen to the human race since sliced bread, penicillin and Alyson Hannigan. In June 2009, The Great Giana Sisters DS will be released.
I KNOW! HOW AWESOME IS THAT! HOLY FRENCH BREADSTICKS IN A PORN FILM, PEOPLE!
Now as you all know, The Great Giana Sisters is one of the best video games of all time. It’s one failing – if it can be considered a failing, because to me it’s its greatest asset – is that it’s best played on a Commodore 64.
The Nintendo DS is one of the greatest game systems of all time. It’s one major failing is that, unless you’re one of the cool kids with a homebrew cart, is that there is no way to play Great Giana Sisters on it.
WELL NOW THAT PROBLEM IS OVER. One of the greatest games ever made is coming to one of the greatest gaming systems ever made so therefore it will be THE GREATEST THING EVER DONE BY HUMANKIND.
Seriously, everyone out there who are still making video games: Just stop. There is no point any more. You’ve been bested. It’s like making music after The Beatles did Rubber Soul. You’re kidding yourselves. Video games have now reached their zenith and we can wrap it all up and go home.
CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO I MEAN DAMN
Dear people who are making this: I love you. I love you so, so much, with a love that is as pure as it is somewhat creepy. Send us beta releases so we may fawn over every pixel, sound effect and gaming bliss contained therein.
These days its trendy to describe your game as a platform. This conjures images of one large purchase that is the basis for more content arriving later. Its not meant to sound like they’re nickel and dimeing you, but really it is.
Rock Band was the first game to describe it self as a platform. The idea is you don’t need to have every Rock Band disc that comes out in order to have everything. If you bought Rock Band 1, you could import all (bar) 5 songs into Rock Band 2. They’d be stored on your hard drive. If you wanted to play a RB 1 song whilst you have the RB2 disc in the tray you can. There’s a $5 fee, ostensibly to cover the placate the rights holders of the music licensed for the first game, but it doesn’t matter, you can have all those songs. But at some stage you need to have both discs in your possession to do this (though yes, you can rent RB1 and import). You can’t just buy RB2 and DL songs that were in RB1 from the Rock Band store. You will likely have to do this for every iteration of RB that comes down the pipe.
Guitar Hero World Tour is late to the party on this whole platform thing. You cannot import DLC you bought for GHII or III into world tour so I’m guessing that’s reserved for World Tour 2.
Singstar on PS3 has a good way of dealing with this. On PS2, there are dozens of disc-based standalone track packs for Singstar. On PS3, there’s Singstore. You only have to have one singstar PS3 disc to use as a key and you can download new tracks all the time. I have Singstar PS3 vol 2 and have bought some Queen songs from the store- these play back fine in Singstar ABBA. I’m not sure if the ABBA tracks will make it onto Singstore but for most part you can buy any track that’s been released for any singstar game (in your territory, at least). There’s apparently a patch coming for non-backwards compatible PS3′s that will let you play PS2 Singstar Discs on a PS3. Yes, the Singstore is rather slow and clunky, but it works (eventually).
Burnout Paradise is a good example of a platform in a more traditional game. Criterion have made Paradise City and have been constantly adding new features via free (and soon, pay to play) patches. Its almost as if Paradise City is what you get if you want Burnout for the next few years. GTA IV is also going down this road with its DLC. You spend a lot of effort making a huge sprawling city, why make it obsolete within a year (a la Vice City), you can make DLC cheaper and quicker than a full game or expansion pack.
PC Gamers will tell you PC has been doing this for years. WoW is a good example of a platform in this context. But so is the Source Engine and Steam, home as it is to CS: Source, DoD: S, HL2 and its episodes, TF2, Left 4 Dead etc. Any popular games with moddability (Oblivion, Neverwinter Nights) have had their life extended for years thanks to all the new content that’s been made available.
Console gamers are seeing this with Little Big Planet. But you don’t hear too much about this being a platform- which means LBP2 is coming next year. Games such as CoD4 Modern Warfare have proven to be incredibly popular but for some reason, possibly related to money, Activision has chosen not to support the game as a platform, for which they could sell more map packs and expansions and gone straight to another standalone game in CoD WaW. Why? Well $5 or $10 map packs are nice. But a $50 or $60 game is nicer.
