Analog Cupcakes
I was aware of Wii’s 3rd party developer woes but the novelty aspect is something that I’ve never really considered. Wii console sales are still doing great but are majority of consumers skipping on software? In a recent interview with Gamasutra Microsoft’s Aaron Greensburg suggested just this,
Everyone says that eventually the novelty will wear off, right? I think that a lot of the people that are buying that console today are not people that have generally bought consoles in the past, right?
You see they’re not buying games on it, right? They’re buying it, it’s like something they break out when people come over, and it’s maybe a fun thing, but it’s almost like the same people that buy a karaoke machine, you know? They’re not really buying it for games, they’re just buying it as a novelty.
Regardless of Aaron’s biased views he does bring up a good point. These statements probably hold true to non-gamers and those who own karaoke machines, but what about us real gamers? We’re the deciding factor of whether a title or platform will eventually sink or swim.
When a game releases on all platforms which you do you purchase it for? When’s the last time you picked up a Wii title? When’s the last time you picked up your Wiimote? Has the “novelty” worn off? What do you think?
Bionic Commando Rearmed producer Ben Judd is doing everything he can to try and please BCR fans. Over at the BCR blogs Ben has posted a list of recent accomplishments made just for fans, but perhaps most important is number 3 on his list:
1) When you asked for a CD cover for the BCR soundtrack we created not only that, but some fantastic liner notes as well.
2) People wanted to hear the original tunes and we tracked those down as well. Again, we offered a nice CD cover with some cleverly designed liner notes (featuring yours truly).
3) The fans wanted the game on Steam and other digital distributors and we are making that a reality.
4) You asked for BCR to be 10 bucks and we listened.
This is great news for PC users as this has been requested since the announcement of Bionic Commando Rearmed. But it’s also great for Capcom as Steam users love to pre-order and get full use of Steam’s automatic download service (it’s so convenient!).
Ben Judd continues,
So what is my point? Basically, it’s that we are trying to give you what you are asking for. Of course, in the immortal words of one of my Producer friends here: “Fans are greedy. They want everything when they want it and they want it for free”.
While we can’t give it to you for free, we certainly aren’t going above and beyond the call in order to milk you for everything you’ve got. We want to make enough profit so that the BC series is here to stay yet also make sure that everyone feels that they are getting the most bang or their buck.
Awww, Ben really likes us! If only all producers shared your mentality.
Source via Capcom Blog
So here we are just a few days after Diablo 3 was announced. There’s been a bit of information released about the game, but not all of the character classes have been revealed. The only officially announced character classes are the Barbarian and the Witch Doctor. Blizzard has confirmed a total of five character classes set to be available leaving us with three to speculate on.
Who else should return to the world of Diablo? Druid? Sorcerer? Necromancer? It’d seem a little unfair for Blizzard to leave out the fan favorite Necromancer, though it seems like he’s been replaced with the Witch Doctor. Blizzard has said that the Witch Doctor isn’t necessarily a subsitute for the Necro…but you can’t do corpse explosion without corpses. Things aren’t lookin’ too bright.
What classes from other Blizzard titles should make the jump to Diablo? Shaman? Hunter? Or perhaps a true healer class? Blizzard has said that Diablo 3 is going to be heavy on the co-op aspect so will we need a designated healer? What do you think?
Blizzard’s PC titles don’t port well to consoles. Diablo and Warcraft II for Playstation weren’t terrible games, but the PC versions of each were far better and much more prefered. Since then Blizzard has been reluctant to develop for anything other than PC, but will things change with Diablo 3? When asked if there were any plans to bring Diablo 3 to consoles in a recent interview, Blizzard COO Paul Sams didn’t rule out the possibility,
“I don’t know yet. A lot of it depends on whether we think the gameplay experience will be the same on console, especially regarding the controls. Also I’d like to keep our audience together. One question mark I have is whether the console owners would allow PC players to play against console gamers. I think the answer gets a lot easier if the console owners say yes. But at the moment they do like to have closed systems. But you know, I think what it really it comes down to is the game itself. We want to deliver what is the best experience possible so the controls and everything else have to be perfect. When you are developing for multiple platforms you sometimes have to compromise. We aren’t willing to compromise. We have relationships with all the console manufacturers. I know they would love to have us on their platforms, ideally on their own and not their competitor! But it’s all about the game experience.”
So there’s no apparent console prejudice over at Blizzard, just matter of what platform the game will be best played on. Though times have changed since Blizzard last attempted the console jump. Baldur’s Gate proved that the dungeon crawler could perform perfectly fine on consoles, but I guess we’ll have to let Blizzard be the judge of that.
Those still hoping for a World of Warcraft console port can dream on.
The surprise of E3 is often ruined for me. One way or another I’m told of what is going to be there and what isn’t. Most of the time these are merely rumors floating around on the internet, but sometimes these rumors come true.
E3.net has a list going of supposed games to be on display at this year’s E3 which runs from July 14 - 17. The list does have some interesting titles on there, but most noteably are the games that haven’t even been announced. Here’s some of the jucier titles on the list:
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
The entire list can be found here. Some titles are accompanied with a mini-blog that links to an announcement, such as Doom 4, but other titles offer no confirmation. I’d love to see some Animal Crossing footage but we’ll just have to wait to see if it’ll even be there this year.
E3.net is a sister site of UGO, so if any of this information is false I think I’ll just take my anger out on Wombat.
I received a reply from Harmonix today regarding the “Gouge Away” censorship on Dootlittle. Here’s what they said:
“Hey Dominic,
A variety of factors go into decisions on censoring lyrics. Contexts for the words themselves vary from song to song, different bands and different labels have differing requirements when it comes to radio edits. Because we are a T for teen game, the ESRB requires that all of our content fall in line with that rating, and how the various lyrics are interpreted contextually has a lot to do with what we’re required to edit.
Hope that answers your question,
–Alex
Harmonix Community Team”
So the censorship depends on the context of the word. The Pixies’ song speaks of attempting to acquire some pot as opposed to the Grateful Dead song which speaks of someone already high on cocaine.
BEAT!
The Street Fighter II HD Remix beta released this morning for those who purchased the full version of Commandos 3 on XBLA. And I have to say that the only reason I bought Commandos 3 was because of the special beta opportunity. C3 did peak my interest when originally announced but I probably would’ve passed on the 800 point price tag as it released. I did the same thing with Crackdown when it offered the Halo 3 beta, and I can assume this is the case with most people. Crackdown is a game I’d pick up in the bargain bin at $10, I’m astonished to look back and say I payed fulled price.
I even pre-ordered the collector’s edition (which I rarely do) of Warhammer Online because it offers a closed beta key to pre-orders later this year. A few of my friends won’t play the beta due to spoiling the game for themselves. An MMORPG can quickly become stale if you force yourself to play through the same content again.
The early look does come at a price…well besides the price you’ve paid for the other game. With having beta access comes the frustration of trying to play it. Frequent glitches, disconnects and other malfunctions tend to wear on one’s nerves when all they want is some early enjoyment. I tried to play a match of SFII HD Remix today and the game froze each time it went to join a game. I tried a few different ways to join a game, i.e. quick match, custom match, but none seemed to work. After the 4th time I turned off my 360 and decided to wait for a patch of some sort.
A beta’s major objective is to work out any additional problems with the game before it’s release, so perhaps these companies are secretly employing us temporarily, not giving us exclusive fun. Have you been baited into purchasing a game you normally wouldn’t have just for a beta? If so, what do you think? Is it really worth it?
I don’t get it. Words like blunt, weed or marijuana are often censored on the radio. Yet songs such as Weezer’s “‘Hash Pipe” go unedited without a problem. Here again I find myself a little upset with the selective censorship, but this time it’s in my damn video game! The word “marijuana” has been removed from the newly release Pixies song “Gouge Away.” Here’s the unedited verse along with the original song:
missy aggravation
some sacred questions
you stroke my locks
some marijuana
if you got some
(starts at :40 seconds)
And here we have Gouge Away censored in Rock Band.
Editing out “bad words” can be understandable. Children play the game as well so it’s probably a good idea to prevent them from saying such words instead of having Harmonix get heat for it. I’d be just fine with that if that was the case with all songs…which it’s not. Grateful Dead’s “Casey Jones” remains unedited and sounds a little like this.
That’s right! Drive a freakin’ train while freakin’ high on COCAINE! GREAT. IDEA.
I kid, I kid. I wish all the songs on Rock Band were uncensored as DLC ESRB rating does not effect the intial rating of the game. It just seems pointless to censor one and not the other. It’d probably save Harmonix some time to not censor and leave all songs unedited. I’ve contacted Harmonix on the matter and will update once I receive a reply.
World of War attempted to put to rest rumors of Diablo 3 yesterday, but today’s teaser image revives them (no spirit healer necessary). Here’s the updated splash in all it’s frigid glory:
For the full-size image check Blizzard.com.
We’re all sure the first symbol shown in the ice was the rune from Frostmourne, Arthas’ sword. But today’s image comes from a rune in Diablo II, Hel to be exact. Here’s a comparison image:
So we’ve got one from Warcraft and one from Diablo, will tomorrow bring a rune from Starcraft? Probably but I’m still crossing my fingers for Rock N Roll Lost Vikings!
Limbo of the Lost is one of those PC games you find while browsing through the game section at Wal-mart. You pick it up and wonder, “Who would ever buy this?” Then you put it down and never think of it again. Chances are you’ve never even heard of Limbo of the Lost before this mess arose, and be thankful that you have not.
The controversy of the game does not lie in the nearly unplayable gameplay, but instead of what the game is actually composed of. Seems as if the developers at Majestic Studios decided to take a day off…or several. Majority of the game’s backgrounds are blatantly stolen from different games. Here’s a few examples: