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GB Review: Spider-Man: Web of Shadows (360)

Aaron Dunlap — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:42:24 -0600

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows is Treyarch's first Spider-Man game not based on a movie. The gameplay, especially in combat, is a step up from previous Spidey titles but the story is short and unsatisfying. Too much emphasis is placed on a half-baked "choose your fate" branching storyline that quickly devolves into a non-stop series of boss fights. The ability to switch between red and blue Spider-Man and black-suited symbiote Spider-Man is novel, but wasted. People like me who pine for a game with Spider-Man 2's quality of web slinging with a decent game attached might be satisfied, but not impressed. This game is worth a rental for Spidey fans or any curious gamer, but at the end you wont be itching for more.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

Spider-Man is probably the perfect character for video games. He can jump higher than anyone; he can walk, run, and sit on walls; he can beat up multiple attackers with blinding speed and feline agility; and he can swing around town on webs he shoots from his wrists. If ever there was an entity better suited for virtual representation, I'd like to hear it.

He's had a spotted past in games. I have no qualms saying that Spider-Man 2 on the Xbox is one of my favorite games to play. Altogether, the game is a wreck, but it's the web swinging I love. I could sit in front of that game for hours doing nothing but swing around its digital Manhattan. It just felt right in that game. You could feel the weight of Spidey as he grabs a fresh webline, feel the G-forces as he reaches the apex of a swing, feel the wind sheer off his body as he pulls his legs in and kicks out at just the right moment to maximize airtime and distance. That game is the perfect Spider-Man webslinging simulator. Every game since then has tried to be a better game, cramming in more story or more combo attacks and celebrity voices, abandoning the web mechanics altogether. Spider-Man 3 was a complete waste. How couldn't it be? It was rushed to come out with the movie, which itself was a waste.

Launch Gallery: Spider-Man: Web of Shadows

(15 images)

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows is different. It's not based on a movie or a particular series of comics (like Ultimate Spider-Man). If I had to describe Web of Shadows as intrinsically as possible, I'd say that it is Treyarch and Shaba Games' attempt to create a Spider-Man game that perfectly captures not only the feeling of swinging like Spidey, but the feeling of being Spidey. Not being bound or hurried by the release date of some summer movie, this game actually stands a chance of accomplishing that.

The web swinging is simplified and made more efficient, for sure, but the the focus this time around seems to be on the combat. Previous Spider-Man games have always been heavy on combo-attacks, but never very much fun. You never got the feeling during combat that you could do everything Spider-Man could, only that you were playing a watered-down beat-em-up tacked onto a web-swinging game. This time around, it feels much better. Combat makes heavy use of Spider-Man's abilities, and allows (at last) to make use of Spidey's best advantages in combat: his speed and ability to stay airborn.

How silly is it for Spider-Man, a man who can walk on walls and lift himself or anything else into the air with ease, to be seen standing with two feet on the ground, throwing punches against enemies? In Web of Shadows, there's no need to stay on the ground for the sake of grounded baddies. Better to knock them up into the air, where you're free to mangle their helpless bodies. The most welcome addition is the ability to "web strike," or zip yourself up to an enemy from far away, get in a quick attack, and then bounce out before he knows what hit him. You can string together web strikes and clobber dozens of enemies, one at a time, bouncing from head to head, staying in constant motion the entire time.

Treyarch's previous Spider-Man games have all been so-called "sandbox games" like Grand Theft Auto where an entire city is under your control, and you can attempt story-based missions at your leisure. This time around, the game is much more linear, but built around a sandbox architecture. You can still go anywhere in the city, and you still start missions by approaching specific characters and starting them, but there are no real alternatives. There are no real side-missions, and the random crimes you'll encounter just by wandering around aren't very engaging.

No, the game sees itself as linear and story-based, and shouldn't be ashamed for it.

The story itself involves the return of Venom and the black symbiote, and its eventual attempt to spread its inky tentacles across the whole city. Early in the game, Spider-Man gets re-introduced to the symbiote and through much of the game is free to switch between normal (red and blue suit) Spider-Man and symbiote (black suit) Spider-Man. Herein lies the biggest bullet point in the game's sell-sheet.

The game insinuates that your actions as either red/blue Spidey or black Spidey affect how the story branches. This is partially true. There are several points during the story where you're given the option to follow either a "good" path (marked by a red/blue Spidey icon on screen) or a "bad" path (marked by black Spidey). Whether you chose to be red/blue or black Spider-Man within the game itself makes no difference, and is altogether pretty arbitrary. Each suit has its strengths and weaknesses as far as combat and agility go, but it really just comes down to your choice of outfit. The branching storyline is controlled by your selection of the good/bad path, and when you're playing a super hero does it make that much sense to ask the player if he wants to do something good, like save somebody, or something bad, like let them die? Sure, after playing through the game once as a goodie two-shoes you might go through again to see what lies on the dark side, but the so-called conflict between good ol' Spider-Man and his evil suit doesn't come across very well when you're basically given the options of "be good" or "be bad."

It would be better if the branching paths in the story were based on your actions and not simply your selection of them. If the black suit had a more noticeable advantage in-game, maybe I'd be more tempted to use it. Maybe the game could keep track of how often you use the black suit or how much damage you cause with it, and from that make it harder and harder to go without it. Then, based on which suit you've spent the most time with, the story can branch however it likes. This is what I thought was going to happen. This is how the marketing material makes it sound.

Altogether, the story mode is somewhat satisfying but brief. The intention is probably to let people try the various branches, but I can't imagine it being too enticing.

Once you've beaten the game, you can't re-load your saved game and freely roam the town with all of your upgraded and unlocked abilities, nor can you start a new game with your earned abilities. This is a huge, huge problem for me. You spend the whole game unlocking and upgrading attacks and combos, and then after a boss fight wherein you can't even use them, they're completely wasted. I feel like I wasted all that time.

As I said, I can spend hours inside Spider-Man 2 ignoring the missions and just swinging around, looking for collectible items, earning points, unlocking new combos. Spider-Man: Web of Shadows doesn't really allow for this. It's a shame, really, because the swinging sure is fun.

I'm left at an impasse. I can't recommend this game for fans of Spider-Man video games. For people who don't really care, the more refined package and far fewer bugs compared to previous Treyarch Spidey games, as well as it being the first one truly designed for next-gen (although from the graphics you might not know it), it might be worth a rental.

They've finally made a game that feels like being Spider-Man, now they just need to make one with a satisfying game on top of it.

Tomb Raider: Underworld Demo Now Available On XBL

Aaron Dunlap — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 11:58:36 -0500

In case you haven't got enough Lara in your life, you can now download an official demo for Tomb Raider: Underworld via the Xbox Live Marketplace.

PS3 fans seem to not be invited to this party. We haven't gotten any word that a demo will find its way to the PlayStation Network.

Tomb Raider: Underworld goes on sale November 18.

I Wrote A Book: Mind + Body Published Yesterday

Aaron Dunlap — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 21:22:31 -0500

In addition to my duties as co-owner and lead editor of this website, I also write non-videogamey stuff. For example, I just published a novel. Mind + Body, she's called

In addition to being able to buy the book, like most goods and services, Mind + Body is also available as a free digital download in various ebook formats, released under a Creative Commons license. Yes, you can download it for free. Legally.

Click here to check it out on Amazon.

Mind + Body is a thriller about a teenager trying to unravel a conspiracy that seems to surround and envelop his entire life.

For the uninitiated, books are kind of like video games where instead of controlling them via a gamepad or plastic guitar, you control them with your brain. They're entirely portable, require no batteries, and have no region locking.

Unlike some books which are about John Adams or make metaphors to caged birds singing, this book has guns and killing and explosions and wisecracking penguins. I made one of those things up.

GB Review: Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D (iPhone)

Aaron Dunlap — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:03:10 -0500

Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D is one of the handful of major studio games now available for the iPhone (or iPod Touch) through the newly released App Store. It's a decent time waster, sure, which is what you'd expect from a cell phone game, but given the power of the iPhone and the hefty $9.99 price tag, this game is a waste of time and opportunity. I would wait a bit longer for more impressive, and better controlling games to come around.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

A pocket review for a pocket game:

Nitro Kart 3D is a rather quick port of "Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart" for the Xbox, PS2, GameCube, and N-Gage. Like the other kart game on the iPhone (Cro-Mag Rally), controlls are stripped down to the bare essentials. Acceleration is automatic, or rather, perpetual, and all the player must do is steer by tilting the phone side to side.

The control can be frustrating and take quite a while to get used to. Not being in control of acceleration feels a bit strange as well, like being the passenger in a car and leaning over to take over the wheel. I don't think developers have gotten a handle on the iPhone's accelerometer yet, and so using it will feel a bit flimsy until the programmers have it hammered down.

Controlling the karts always felt sloppy to me, but it can be managed by adjusting the sensitivity. Game modes available include standard "Cup" mode, a pretty simple Story mode, and Time Trials. There is no multiplayer.

This is one of the very first 3D games for the iPhone, so it's hard to gauge the graphics, but from what I've seen of other games they're already a tad sub-par. Textures in the distance appear to manifest before your eyes, and there is a very annoying attempt at a lens flare effect that has watered down to nothing but an indistinct series of blobs that do nothing but block your view.

Again, for the money, you should expect more. This may be one of the best 3D iPhone games, but that's not saying much. Treat this game like a launch title and keep your distance until the real games show up.

New Sims 3 Screens

Aaron Dunlap — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:23:12 -0500

While they don't tell us much about the game other than that it contains Sims, EA just released these 12 new screenshots from Sims 3.

Launch Gallery: Sims 3

(12 images)

E3 2008: Fallout 3 Screens

Aaron Dunlap — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:05:33 -0500

Launch Gallery: Fallout 3 E3 2008

(12 images)

E3 2008: Resistance 2 Screenshots

Aaron Dunlap — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:02:21 -0500

Launch Gallery: Resistance 2

(3 images)

E3 2008: Killzone 2 Screenshots

Aaron Dunlap — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:00:55 -0500

Launch Gallery: Killzone 2

(6 images)

E3 2008: Mirror's Edge Screenshots

Aaron Dunlap — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:28:55 -0500

Launch Gallery: Mirror's Edge

(4 images)

E3 2008: Left 4 Dead Screenshots

Aaron Dunlap — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:27:29 -0500

EA has released these new screenshots from Valve's upcoming co-op survival horror shooter, Left 4 Dead, coming to the Xbox 360 and PC.

Launch Gallery: Left 4 Dead E3 2008

(9 images)

E3 2008: 5 New Gears of War 2 Screenshots

Aaron Dunlap — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 01:45:26 -0500

Launch Gallery: Gears of War 2 E308

(5 images)

E3 2008: Too Human Screenshots

Aaron Dunlap — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 01:19:17 -0500

Launch Gallery: Too Human

(9 images)

E3 2008: Halo Wars Screenshots

Aaron Dunlap — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 01:17:35 -0500

Launch Gallery: Halo Wars

(11 images)

E3 2008: First Screens from Fable II

Aaron Dunlap — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 23:18:54 -0500

Will Molyneux's followup to the legendarily disappointing Fable be a sure-fire hit? It's hard to tell by looking at screenshots, but this is a gaming site afterall... how else are we going to speculate?

Microsoft has just released these sceens in their E3 2008 asset dump. Check out the gallery below.

Launch Gallery: Fable 2

(9 images)

E3 2008: Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts Images

Aaron Dunlap — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 22:57:38 -0500

Microsoft has released these first images of Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts for the Xbox 360. The game is developed by Rare and is said to be available this November.

Launch Gallery: Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts

(8 images)

E3 2008: Xbox 360's New Dashboard Video

Aaron Dunlap — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 21:42:05 -0500

Here is a video straight from Microsoft of the brand new dashboard interface coming to the Xbox 360 this fall. The video shows their new avatar system, Netflix playback, Xbox Live Parties, and more.

E3 2008: Gears 2 November 7 Release Date Confirmed

Aaron Dunlap — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:00:38 -0500

Today at the Microsoft E3 2008 Press Conference it was confirmed that Gears of War 2 will release on the Xbox 360 November 7th, 2008.

Launch Gallery: Gears of War 2

(10 images)

E3 2008: RE5 March 13 Release Date Confirmed

Aaron Dunlap — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:54:54 -0500

Today at the Microsoft E3 2008 Press Conference it was confirmed that the release date for Resident Evil 5 on the Xbox 360 will be March 13, 2009 worldwide.

E3 2008: Official Image of Wii MotionPlus

Aaron Dunlap — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:47:33 -0500

From the press release:

Nintendo's upcoming Wii MotionPlus accessory for the revolutionary Wii Remote controller again redefines game control, by more quickly and accurately reflecting motions in a 3-D space. The Wii MotionPlus accessory attaches to the end of the Wii Remote and, combined with the accelerometer and the sensor bar, allows for more comprehensive tracking of a player's arm position and orientation, providing players with an unmatched level of precision and immersion. Every slight movement players make with their wrist or arm is rendered identically in real time on the screen, providing a true 1:1 response in their game play. The Wii MotionPlus accessory reconfirms Nintendo's commitment to making games intuitive and accessible for everyone. Nintendo will reveal more details about the Wii MotionPlus accessory and other topics Tuesday morning at its E3 media briefing.

Hey, We've Got A Gallery System..

Aaron Dunlap — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 02:05:13 -0500

See that new-looking thing below this paragraph? I hope you do, because it would mean that the gallery system I just built (from scratch, because I'm like that) is working.

Launch Gallery: Gears of War 2

(10 images)

Lucky that I should get it done now, at 3am the morning E3 begins and the floodgates of screenshots and media kits are opened. Like everything else on this site, it's still a work in progress, so any feedback can be left in the comments of this story.

Right now it makes nearly exclusive use of JavaScript, which isn't very friendly to most mobile browsers and people who think any type of HTML newer than baggy pants will explode their computers. A flat, static, boring alternative will be available eventually.

Launch Gallery: Strong Bad's Cool Game

(12 images)

iPhone Monkey Ball Earns $63k in One Day

Aaron Dunlap — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 19:38:44 -0500

The iPhone 2.0 software update isn't even "officially" out yet, but Super Monkey Ball, the most anticipated iPhone game has already sold over 9,000 units.

The App Store was only available this morning via workarounds (it's now available through iTunes directly), so there's been a less-than-24-hour window where apps can even be purchased.

The Monkey Ball game is currently the #1 download at 9029 downloads as of this writing.

According to Apple, when you sell an application in the App Store, you get to keep 70% of the price. Assuming SEGA gets the same deal, that means for every $9.99 unit purchased, they get $6.99. Multiply that by 9,029 and you get $63,112.71.

Not bad for single-day sales for a downloadable title when the software that supports it isn't even officially available. Imagine how the game will sell after tomorrow when everybody and their brother gets an iPhone 3G with the App Store already installed.

GTA IV Smashes World Records, Nearly Doubles Halo 3 Sales

Aaron Dunlap — Tue, 13 May 2008 12:57:25 -0500

Just in time to render the new Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition outdated, the Guinness people have announced that Grand Theft Auto IV has practically destroyed currently held records for fastest-selling game and most-profitable entertainment product.

In the first 24 hours, GTA IV sold 3.6 million copies and earned $310 million dollars.

Prior to GTA IV's record-setting releases, the record-holder for the most-selling game was Halo 3 with $170 million in 24 hours. Compare that to the record-holding movie and book with Spider-Man 3 making $60 million and the latest Harry Potter book making $220 million in 24 hours.

Consider how ubiquitous Halo 3's advertising was compared the the relatively tame promotion for GTA IV. Halo 3 had its own soda and viral videos and ARGs and commercial coverage on practically every network. Then there's GTA IV, with just a few simple commercials and lots of talking heads on the news hallooing about dead hookers and it nearly doubles Halo 3's first-day earnings.

50 Cent: Blood On The Sand Trailer Shows Up

Aaron Dunlap — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 21:04:38 -0500

Never one to support the rumor that rap stars are at all diluted as to their own self importance, 50 Cent is back for more gun-slinging and to engage in the cappin' of various mofo's. Folks, may I introduce: 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand.

This time, for some reason, he's shooting up terrist types in the Middle East. Valuable combat strategies that can be gleaned from a quick viewing of this trailer include: always abandon cover and run toward the bullets, drop your weapon if you have an opportunity to engage in flashy hand-to-hand combat, and never worry about your own wake of destruction -- it'll only hurt everybody but you.

50 Cent: BOTS is looking at a Fall 2008 release on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Sony Announces MGS4 PS3 Bundle

Aaron Dunlap — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 11:02:20 -0600

Good news for the large chunk of humanity that's been waiting for Metal Gear Solid 4 to buy a PlayStation 3. Sony has announced a bundle that will contain an 80GB model, a DualShock 3 controller, and a copy of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. All that for $499.99, or five hundred dollars for people without exact change.

This should be replacing the not-so-popular Motorstorm bundle, and considering the price, game, and DualShock 3 controller (at last), this is actually a pretty decent bargain. Yes, a $500 bargain.

Spore Release Date Announced: 9/07/2008

Aaron Dunlap — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 13:37:54 -0600

After something like a 42-year development cycle and 100 gameplay presentations from Will Wright, Spore finally has a release date.

Via a very brief teaser video posted on the Spore website, EA has announced a confirmed release date of September 7th, 2008 for the PC, Mac, and Nintendo DS.

"The wait is almost over," Chief Designer Will Wright said in a press release. "We're in our final stages of testing and polish with Spore, and the team at Maxis can't wait to see the cosmos of content created by the community later this year."

The seven months until release gives plenty of time for conservative, religious, and parents groups to get up in arms about the "pro-evolution" content of the game.

Rainbow Six is Done With Vegas, Says Dev

Aaron Dunlap — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 16:06:29 -0600

Don't expect to see highly trained counter-terrorist agents lobbing flashbangs over craps tables after Rainbow Six: Vegas 2. According to a developer for Ubisoft, they're done with the Vegas locale.

"We really feel that the story of Vegas is done," designer Philippe Therien told Eurogamer. "We've explored as much of Vegas as we wanted. For now, we're pretty much covered with Vegas."

He says they haven't decided on a location for future Rainbow Six titles, but notes that the setting might not always be the selling point.

I think setting a game in Washington D.C. might be cool, perhaps clearing hostiles from the Capital Building, the Smithsonian, and the White House, and maybe picking off a sniper from atop the Washington Monument. All of those things are within spitting distance of each other, so the frantic mission-to-mission pace could be maintained. Or would that be tacky?

Vegas 2 releases March 21st.

Assassin's Creed DS Gameplay Footage: I Feel Asleep

Aaron Dunlap — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 12:52:41 -0600

Since its announcement, Assassin's Creed: Altair's Chronicles has been kept pretty close to Ubisoft's maternal chest, odd for a game that could conceivably be such a big deal.

Well here's some gameplay footage. Do not watch while operating heavy machinery.

I guess the minigame shown near the end to pick pockets looks pretty interesting. It appears you scratch out the screen to reveal the contents, then have to drag the thing you want out of the pocket like a medieval game of Operation.

Famitsu Releases Street Fighter IV Lineup: Usual Suspects

Aaron Dunlap — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 14:18:53 -0600

As if everybody didn't expect it, several Street Fighter alumni have been been confirmed by Japan's Famitsu magazine as appearing in the upcoming about-effing-time 3D Street Fighter IV.

E. Honda, Guile, Chun-Li,Blanka, Dhalsim, and Zangief all show up in scans from Famitsu.

THQ Confirms Red Faction 3 for PS3, 360, PC

Aaron Dunlap — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 19:45:38 -0600

During an investor-related conference call, THQ let slip the news that Volition is hard at work now on a new sequel to Red Faction, a series that hasn't seen an entry since 2003's Red Faction II.

The original Red Faction was a pretty big deal on the PlayStation 2 with its GeoMod engine featuring destructible environments. Red Faction II received less fanfare but was pretty good. Since then, however, Halos and Calls of Duty and Gears of War have come along to push the FPS envelope. Here's hoping that Volition, who've been busy with Saints Row, is able to keep up.

THQ expects the game to release late 2008 or early 2009.

Faith and a .45 Teaser Contains .45 Seconds of Gameplay

Aaron Dunlap — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 14:56:23 -0600

I haven't been following Faith and a .45 very closely, because there's been no reason to, and this "teaser" doesn't really change things. If you like the Ken Burns effect as applied to concept artwork and split-second takes from gameplay with uncomfortable, forced camera angles you should love this.

The SD video is above, or hit the link below for the HD version.

EGM Says Dead Rising 2 Being Made In US, Not By Capcom

Aaron Dunlap — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 14:23:55 -0600

According to 1UP, the next issue of EGM will contain a rumor, courtesy of rumormonger Quarterman, that Dead Rising 2 is being developed in the US -- not by Capcom (though Capcom would surely be publishing it).

To me, this is great news (if it's true news). All of the things that I didn't like about Dead Rising (the complicated, unfriendly save system, the ridiculous plot, the crummy menu interface, annoying support characters telling you what to do, lots of reading) are trademarks of Eastern game design. I would like to see Dead Rising done with a more Western flair, perhaps some kind of system where the main character can stick to walls and shoot around corners...

The rumor doesn't say which Western developer would be/is doing it, other than that they're LA-based (who isn't?).

Space Ace To Release for Blu-Ray, HD DVD

Aaron Dunlap — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 13:12:20 -0600

Digital Leisure, a company that makes casual DVD-player games, has announced the upcoming release of Space Ace on Blu-Ray and HD DVD formats on April 8th. Similar to Dragon's Lair, Space Ace is a sort of interactive movie. Fully animated (hand-drawn animated lead by Don Bluth, of An American Tail and The Land Before Time fame) sequences are controlled by the player/viewer at certain junctures in the story, sort of like those "chose your fate" novels of yesteryear, except they're movies, or games.

The gamemovie...moviegame will have special features shot in 1080i, with an exclusive "Head 2 Head" online multiplayer type thing on compatible HD DVD players.

Thanks for sending in the tip, Robert!

Nintendo Announces New Cobalt/Black Look For DS

Aaron Dunlap — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 11:42:04 -0600

Beginning February 10, a newly colored Nintendo DS (Lite) will go on sale. Creatively called "Cobalt/Black," the new scheme is a combination of cobalt and black. The brief press release stretches a little far to say it's "like a black t-shirt with a splash of color," but it does look kinda nice.

Believe it or not, this is the seventh color iteration the DS Lite has seen, after Polar White, Coral Pink, Onyx, Crimson/Black, and a limited-edition Gold/Metallic Rose version.

Nintendo sure knows where the money is: colors. Nearly ten years after the original GameBoy had launched and was technically inferior to more recent products like Sega's Game Gear, they launched their "Play It Loud" campaign with the technically identical GameBoys now coming in a handful of '90s-appropriate neon colors, and they sold millions.

Since then, they've tended to release their portables in a small number of colors at first then slowly trickle out new colors one by one. I suppose they did that for the GameCube, too. "Limited Edition" Platinum, huh?

Remember the first GameBoy Advance? One of the launch colors was called Glacier, which implies blue, but it looked purple. That was fun, carrying around a purple portable with no backlight. The GameBoy Color was purple, too.

What was I talking about? Oh right, a blue and black DS Lite. There's another picture after the jump.

120GB PS3 Is Coming! No It's Not! Yes It Is! Who Cares?

Aaron Dunlap — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 13:13:31 -0600

The current top of the line PS3, the 80GB model, has been disappearing from stores and rumors have been flying, FLYING that a 120GB model is on its way.

Sony denies it.

GameStop confirms it.

The real mystery here, though, is whether anybody should care. With Metal Gear Solid 4 on its way and Blu-Ray becoming the de facto winner in the HD format war, there are finally a few reasons to purchase a PlayStation 3. Should Sony be making a more expensive version now?

Unless the 120GB model, alleged to also come with DualShock 3 at last, alleged not to exist, alleged to exist, alleged to not have a reflection in mirrors, is the same price or cheaper than the 80GB model, what's the point?

Halo Wars On PC? Uhh.. Nevermind

Aaron Dunlap — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:44:03 -0600

Yesterday we mentioned a rumor that the upcoming Halo strategy game, Halo Wars, might be appearing on the PC. Forget it.

Kotaku contacted Microsoft for a comment, and the idea was quickly squished. Sayeth MS:

Halo Wars" is being developed from the bottom up for the Xbox 360 and its control scheme to ensure that we deliver a groundbreaking console RTS experience. Given that, we have no plans to develop "Halo Wars" for Windows Vista at this time.

Oh well.

Obvious Rumor: Halo Wars Coming To PC

Aaron Dunlap — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 10:22:15 -0600

Two games I'm looking forward to this year: an FPS (Tiberium) based on an RTS franchise (Command & Conquer) and an RTS (Halo Wars) based on a FPS franchise (Halo). Halo Wars has been looking pretty good in recent gameplay footage, but in my mind always had the disadvantage of being a console game.

Console RTS games can occasionally be adequate compared to their PC counterparts, but are rarely as good or better. Halo Wars has always been treated as an Xbox 360 exclusive, but we'd always hoped it'd make its way to the PC with keyboard/mouse control.

Gaming site The Angry Pixel is carrying the rumor that our wild guesses are accurate. Microsoft wants to expand their Games For Windows... concept, and a game like Halo Wars is a sure bet for that.

Like most "news" in this industry, this is just a rumor. Like most "rumors" in this industry, it's probably true.

EA Pushing For Free, Ad-Supported Games. Announces Battlefield Heroes

Aaron Dunlap — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 14:03:59 -0600

In Asian gaming markets like Korea and, to a lesser extent, Japan, there is an entirely distinct business model for video game releasing that's never been tried here in the US at any broad scale or with any success: free games, supported by ads and micro-transactions.

Certain games, like EA's FIFA and a few titles from NC Soft are released for free to download in Korea but give players the option to purchase in-game objects and upgrades. EA's FIFA, for instance, lets you pay a few bucks for customized jersies as well as limited upgrades to a player's stats. Most people just play with what they can get for free, but enough people buy the extras that, combined with revenue from ads placed inside the games (be it actually within gameplay itself or just ads that appear within the interface) for the game to turn a profit.

EA's new chief executive, John Riccitiello, and Gerhard Florin, EA's executive vice president, aim to bring that model to the US starting with a brand new game just announced: Battlefield Heroes.

Not to be confused with Medal of Honor: Heroes, Company of Heroes, Bionacle Heroes, Sonic Heroes, City of Heroes, Heroes of the Pacific, Heroes of Might and Magic, or the TV show Heroes, Battlefield Heroes is a "dumbed-down", cartooned-up entry to the Battlefield franchise aimed at slightly more casual gamers.

The existing Battlefield games are fairly deep; you have to be pretty good or youll die pretty quick, Gerhard Florin told the New York Times. Now weve toned down the difficulty, shortened each game session to 10 or 15 minutes and made the visual style more cartoony.

He says that if this is a success, other EA library titles could be given the ad-supported treatment. Worth noting is that these are only PC titles we're talking about here, there's been no mention of applying this model to the console realm.

Here's to goofing off at work and not having to pay for it.

MGS4 Downloadable Demo Coming To PSN Next Month?

Aaron Dunlap — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 13:43:13 -0600

According to website Chicago Gamer's Club, and apparently anybody with a copy of UK mag "PSW," and at least one working eyeball, we should be expecting a downloadable demo of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots to show up on the PlayStation Network (the PS3's Xbox Live counterpart) in February.

Metal Gear Solids 1 and 2 both had pre-release demos that were quite a big deal (I'd estimate that roughly 104% of Zone of the Enders' sales can be attributed to the bundled MGS2 demo). Demos mean the game is close enough to completion to be able to cut a chunk of it out without screwing anything up, and it means that there's at least some small parcel of the story that Kojima can't stay tight-lipped about.

Will the MGS4 demo sell PlayStation 3s, though, that's the question.

A New Army of Two Trailer Arrived Today, Killed Indiscriminately

Aaron Dunlap — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 21:37:07 -0600

There's been some questions as to the game's quality, to be sure, but there's certainly some potential here: Amy of Two (Army Harder?) is a co-op shooter where your burly buddy can either be controlled via a real-life friend or, for lack of one of those, by AI and prompted by voice commands issued by yourself via the Xbox Live headset.

A new trailer released today. It features a lot of shooting and jumping and such. It's embedded after the jump.

New Tiberium (C&C FPS) Trailer Is Pretty, Gameplay-less

Aaron Dunlap — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 21:23:43 -0600

Those paying attention to the upcoming FPS based on the Command & Conquer universe might like to check out this new trailer, released today. The video is entirely CGI, doesn't give us much new information about the plot, but looks pretty enough. There will come a point in the future where I'm not going to let these non-gameplay trailers slide by without a scolding, but that day hasn't arrived yet.

What is new, or new to me at least, is that the game will feature squad commanding, perhaps conquering too. I've seen squad-based FPSes done well and done poorly, and more often poorly, so here's hoping...

The video is embedded after the jump.

Spore and COD4 Mac-bound. Is Mac Gaming Going To Improve?

Aaron Dunlap — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 12:45:52 -0600

We in the gaming world typically don't need to pay attention to the Macworld Expo for news, since it's been pretty well-known that gaming on the Mac sucks. One of the "hottest" games on the Mac right now is Age of Empires III, which came out something like 400 years ago.

Macs use Intel chips now, and the market share is expanding day by day. There's no reason for the gaming market to be so bleak on the Mac, and it looks like perhaps things are starting to make a turn.

Today, Activision announced that uber-hit Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare will be coming to the Mac via game-porting specialists Aspyr. Yesterday it was revealed via EA that Spore is being developed for the Mac, and is even available on display at Macworld.

I do most of my work on a MacBook Pro but I have to hang onto a Windows box for the sake of the few PC games worth playing that come out every year or so. If the PC and Mac gaming markets were a little more symmetrical, I'd be ecstatic for one, but I think it would be good for gaming and great for Apple.

Go into an Apple store and the only games you'll see on those machines are such fare as Finding Nemo and some new age analog of Reader Rabbit. Aren't Macs supposed to be for the young, hipster, media-savvy crowd? Shoddy ports coming out months late doesn't strike me as very hip or savvy.

This could be a product of Microsoft's buddy-buddy status with the publishers. They've dumped millions on this "Games for Windows" concept, and pushed DirectX on the developers like smack on a pre-teen. It could also be a product of legacy. Games started out on computers, and although this tricked-out "gaming rig" trend is a recent phenom, PCs have always been seen as gaming vehicles.

They're also beginning to be seen as antiquated, and Apple is moving in as the younger alternative. If they'd like one hell of a boost in that direction, a decent library of video games would do that.

Bagless Vacuum Looks Halo-Inspired As Well, Psychosis Imminent

Aaron Dunlap — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 14:37:18 -0600

Tell me that doesn't look like the helmet of Master Chief's SPARTAN armor. Go on, tell me.

Compare this to the Hummer HX that looks a bit like a Warthog. Perhaps Halo-chic will become the next design trend.

Hummer Says HX Concept Not Halo-Influenced, Sky Not Blue

Aaron Dunlap — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 13:11:32 -0600

Since early photos of the new HX concept from Hummer have surfaced, nearly anybody who's spent some time playing any Halo game can't help but notice the slight similarities between it and the game series' Warthog vehicle. At the North American International Auto Show currently going on in Detroit, mlive asked the question on all our minds: Is the Hummer HX inspired by Halo?

No, says Carl Zipfel, director of exterior design for the HX concept. If anything, it's inspired by ATV/4-wheeler vehicles and all that.

He does confirm that he has himself played the games, and also that there are no plans to attach a turret to the back.

I think if the concept car were blue or pink or red or orange, nobody would have even made the connection. The problem is that I would identify that color as "Halo green," so the mind cannot be blamed for making unilateral connections like that.

Look at those tires, man.

[Photo Source: mlive.com]

Worst of 2007: Biggest Disappointments

Aaron Dunlap — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 15:56:59 -0600

This industry is one that deals mainly in the indirect re-shoveling of hype. Publishers dump the hype on us, we shovel it onto to masses, the masses ask for more, we shovel some more. By the time a game releases, it's rare for anticipations to be met, and even after all these years we're not immune. We still fall for it. We let our hopes dictate the quality of an unreleased game in our over-stimulated little brains.

These are two games that had legendary levels of hype and were destined for record-breaking sales sight-unseen but did not match the hype.

While not a terrible game, and in some aspects almost revolutionary, Assassin's Creed is not the game we thought it was going to be. The brazen, well-crafted executions we expected weren't there, instead we got to tediously repeat the same set of actions over and over to reach a series of uninteresting kills. The rich and dynamic story we were expecting was also alarmingly absent. The advertisements that seemed to show the fringes of a very deep story turned out to have absolutely nothing to do with the game, and one of the most interesting periods of history was, as I said in my "What I Hate About Assassin's Creed" feature, used as the backdrop for a Dan Brown novel. A bad Dan Brown novel, with a completely indiscernible plot and atrocious voice acting.

Halo 3 was burgeoning with hype the second Halo 2 hit the shelves. The epitome of an inevitable sequel, Halo 3 rampaged through its development cycle with a cyclone of marketing and hype (two words: "Gamer Fuel"). This game had so much hype that it had to have swept up many people who haven't played a Halo game before, and what did those people get? Confusion. And a mediocre product. If you set aside the multiplayer mode, the single player campaign is not what you expect from a mega-ultra-blockbuster. If you aren't intimately versed in the Halo universe, the story will make no sense whatsoever. If you've played games such as Gears of War and had your idea about what a "next gen" shooter can be, you'd probably find Halo 3 an almost mundane experience.

Lesson Learned: Gaming journalists have been slapping themselves on the wrist for years now for being part of the hype machine, and it seems that we'll never learn our lesson. If these two disappointments get us a bit closer to that (hopefully) eventual realization, all the better. We've got to stop elevating games in our minds into shrines of amazement before we actually see a product on the shelves and in our hands. Some of the best games of 2007 were the ones that not a lot of people were so anxious about, like Call of Duty 4 and The Orange Box. Perhaps these are games where the money was put into development instead of marketing.

More R6: Vegas 2 Screens Released. They Have Bloom.

Aaron Dunlap — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 13:47:03 -0600

If we're still to believe Ubisoft, Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 ("Vegas Harder," I like to call it) is coming out in 3 months (to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the Rainbow Six franchise in March). For that, you'd expect that we'd have more than the 10-or so screenshots we've gotten so far.

This newest batch, over at TeamXbox, don't show off a lot. The biggest feature of the screenshots seem to be the bloom lighting. Bloom lighting is great and all, but I'd prefer some actual confirmation that this game is actually coming out in March.

A Short Story For The Holiday: A Wii This Christmas

Aaron Dunlap — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 21:58:32 -0600

Written by Aaron Dunlap. Story by Aaron Dunlap & Shiva Stella.

A month until Christmas. Plenty of time.

She'd set aside money for a while, whatever part of her paycheck didn't go toward food, house payments, or school loans was withdrawn as cash and tucked into a book on the bottom shelf of her bedroom's sparse bookcase populated mostly by tales of whimsy she hadn't had time to read or nonfiction books on finances, small-businesses, and self-motivation she couldn't motivate herself to open. There was no Christmas bonus at work, she was sure the doctors all got bonuses, and she even heard the RNs talking about theirs. Nothing for the nursing interns, though. No child support checks lately, either.

No matter, though, she had the extra $300 she wanted. Enough to buy the one thing her daughter wanted for Christmas: the whimsically named 'Wii,' a video game console by Nintendo.

Her daughter, Jessica, had seen the commercials over a year ago when she was just 10. She hadn't made much of a fuss, but her mother knew how badly she wanted one, whatever it was. She had tried to find one that Christmas, but they were impossible to find and too much money. This year she would be prepared, though. She'd tucked the money inside that book. This year Jessica would get her Wii, she would be happy again.

They were $250 still, she saw in a Target flier recently. For her $300, then, she could get the system and still have enough to get one game -- she wasn't sure which one, whatever a salesman recommended. Perhaps a Mario Brothers game, if they still made those.

She had to work on "Black Friday," the day after Thanksgiving, but she asked Gail, a friend of hers who was going sale-hunting to see if she could find a Wii on sale with the promise she'd pay her back. No luck. A few stores had them, but they were all gone within minutes.

Shoot. She'd hoped that the shortage from last year would have been sorted out by now. They usually are, the Ticke-Me-Elmos and Furbies were never a problem to find after the initial craze, her friends had told her.

Since then, she'd swiped the sales fliers from the Sunday newspaper each week, careful not to let Jessica see her pouring over each one, looking for a hint that the video game system would be in stock or, even better, on sale. The games were always there, brightly colored boxes priced between $30 and $50, but never any mention of the Wii being in stock.

She'd hear stories at work from the nurses and a few patients about waiting in line outside stores before opening to get one, but how did they know what days they would be in stock? On her lunch breaks she would call local stores and ask about the Wii, each time receiving a response that sounded tired and rehearsed. They didn't have any in stock, they didn't know when they would. Try to get here around opening time some day. The next Saturday she didn't have work and Jessica was sleeping at a friend's house, so she got up early and drove straight to the nearest Best Buy at opening time. There was no lineup, but maybe that was a good thing. She went inside the mostly-barren store and headed toward a colorful sign in the back that said "Wii." Beneath it were the games she'd seen in the fliers, lots of accessories like controllers and covers and something called a "Nunchuck," but no actual Wii systems. She grabbed the attention of the next-passing employee, a young teenager.

"Do you have any Wii systems or know when you'll be getting any?" she asked, trying to mask the eagerness in her voice.
The employee smirked weakly. "No," he said, "they're impossible to find. If you really need one you can find them on eBay."

Discouraged but with a glimmer of hope she returned home and turned on the computer in the living room. She knew Jessica wasn't home, but she still glanced over her shoulder as she went to ebay.com and typed "nintendo wii" into the search field.

"Good grief," she said to herself as she browsed the listings; $350, $400, some were even as high as $500.

One was as low as $300, as much as she could spend. If she got it, she could maybe rent some games from Blockbuster or get the games later. By the time she clicked the item, though, it was already at $428. She spent a few hours digging, hoping to perhaps luck out and snag one for a low price before anybody else saw it, but it was hopeless.

She had almost given up hope until a few days later when she happened to see an article in the newspaper about Nintendo and GameStop stores selling a sort of voucher. Like a raincheck, the voucher cost $250 but reserved you a Wii that you could claim whenever they came in stock, be it next week or next year. What a miracle! Even if they didn't come in stock in time, at least the voucher guaranteed you a system set aside for you, so she could give Jessica the voucher as a gift. With a bit of exlaining, it might do the trick.

On the day that the voucher program started, she went straight from work to the mall and to the GameStop. She spent a moment looking at a demonstration kiosk for the Wii to try to figure out what the fuss was about, but she was so excited she couldn't stand still. She rushed to the counter and asked the employee, another teenager, about the vouchers.

"Oh, we ran out of those early this morning," the kid told her.
"Ran out? Not the systems, I mean the vouchers... rainchecks," she clarified.
"Yeah, the rainchecks. We ran out. We only got about 25 of them."

She was so shocked that she just stood with her mouth open for a moment. She hadn't thought there was a limited number of them. Christmas was in just a few days, and this was her last chance. How could it be so difficult to make these Wiis? She was so distraught she was close to tears.

"I see," she said softly after a moment.

The employee glanced around briefly, then noticing that she wasn't leaving, said, "We have some PS3s in stock, though."
"PS3?" she asked.
"PlayStation 3, yeah, it's another video game system. Just as new, better graphics, plays movies."

She thought for a second. Was it specifically the Wii that Jessica wanted, or just any system. She couldn't be sure of that, of if there was even a difference.

"Do they play the same games?" she asked.
"As-- the Wii?"
She nodded.
"Umm, some of them, yeah. A lot of games get released for all three systems."
"Three?"
"Yeah, there's an Xbox 360 too."

Xbox 362? PlayStation 3? Now she was distraught and confused.

"They all play most of the same games, though?" she asked.
"Right. Well... yeah, mostly. Some games are just for the PlayStation and the Xbox."
"So they're better?" she asked, "Than the Wii?"
The kid frowned. "Better in terms of graphics, yeah."

She wondered if any game system would do. It shouldn't be a big deal, not if they all play the same games.

"How much are they?" she asked, then.
"Which?"
"Either of them, if you have them in stock."
"There are a bunch of models for each, but the PlayStation 3 starts at $499 and the Xbox 360 with all of the parts starts at $399."

It was more than she had, but she couldn't bring herself to say it. She told him that her daughter was set on the Wii and thanked him, then left.

Christmas was days away, and it would be another year without the Wii for her daugher. The raincheck system was her last hope.

Over the next few days she began to consider just giving Jessica the money for Christmas and saying to save it for a Wii when they come back in stock, or maybe a gift card from a store where she could get one. But what if she chooses a store that never gets them? It was her only option. She couldn't afford the prices of the sellers on eBay and she never knew which day to wait outside of a store. Maybe a nice card with the gift card in it would be enough. On the other hand, that $300 could buy a lot of books and other gifts for Jessica, though she knew Jess's grandma would be getting her plenty of books and clothes. Maybe she could ask her mother for the extra money to buy one from eBay. No, she didn't like that. Besides, it wouldn't arrive on time.

The phone rang just then. It was her friend Gail, the one she asked to find a Wii on Black Friday, calling to say that her son read online that some local Target stores were getting last-minute Wii shipments in overnight. Tomorrow was a day off, so she could get up early and be at Target just when they opened. She made arrangements for Jessica to sleep at a friend's again, promising the friend's parents that it'd be a sleepover at her house next time, dropped her off, set the alarm, then went to bed.

The next morning she was up bright and early and headed to the local Target at 10-minutes to opening time. There was already a bit of a line outside the door of people bundled up and shivvering. They must have heard as well. This store must actually have Wiis!

As she crossed the parking lot to approach the line formed across the curb in front of the store, someone from inside the store and wearing a typical "manager" outfit came through the doors and announced, hands burried in pockets, that they had 24 Wiis to sell and that they were limited to one per person, then retreated back into the store, locking the doors behind him.

At that, the people in the line all began to count themselves independantly, and those beyond the 24 mark shuffled off. Some of them discussed the locations of other Target stores and whether they could get there in time, others left in silence, but one man stopped and returned, offering alloud $50 to anybody who'd give him their place in line. No takers. Brow furrowed, the man flipped through his wallet, did some mental arithematic, and upped his offer to $100. Someone near the front of the line liked the sound of that, and traded his place in line for the hundred dollars.

Another person in the line, his capitalism senses flourishing, said, "I can give up my spot too."
Jessica's mother, the only person who wasn't in line and hadn't left approached him. "I'd like it," she said meekly.
The man smiled, but said nothing, as if expecting her to say somthing else.
"Oh," she said, realizing. The most she could part with and still have enough for the system was $50. "I have fifty dollars," she said, feeling like she was doing something illegal.
The man considered it, but shook his head.

"I.. what?" she asked, pulling $50 from her purse.
"Sorry," he said, turning away from her, "it's not worth it."
"Please," she pleaded. "My daughter, it... it's all I have, and the only thing she wants is one of these Nintendos. I don't even know what it does or what's so great about it, but I've been trying for a month now to find one for her and I have nothing."

The man was trying to avoid eye contact.

"It's all I have," she said again, this time to herself.

Nobody said anything.

She nodded slowly, bit her lip, stuffed the money back in her purse and turned toward her car so she could cry in private.

"Ma'am," somebody said as she walked away. She turned, to see somebody a few people behind the last guy was waving her over.
"You can have my place," he said when she approached.
"Really?" she asked, skepically.
"Sure," the guy said. He was younger than the first, in his mid-twenties.
Her hopes spiked and after wiping a tear from her eye she reached into her purse to retrieve that $50.

"No," the young man said after realizing what she was doing. "It's fine, you can just have it."

She stopped moving, and looked up slowly. "What?"

"Yeah," he said. "It's alright, you can just have my spot. I don't want it."

He stepped out of the line and gestured toward the gap he'd left. Everybody else tried not to stare.

Deftly she took the few steps to enter the line then turned back around. Searching for words or a thought, she said, "I.. let me just.. you.." before her sholders sank and she just asked, "Why?"

The young man zipped his jacket a few inches higher and stuck his hand back in his pocket. "Super Nintendo," he said, standing where she once was.
"I don't understand," she said.
"When I was a kid," he started, "all I wanted was a Super Nintendo Entertainment System. I bugged my mom about it endlessly, and she drove herself crazy trying to find one. She saved her money and hit every store just so I could have one on Christmas. I don't think I even thanked her, I was too caught up with the Nintendo. I played that thing for about a month straight. Now, I think the only thing I'd do with the Wii is let it sit on my shelf. It's not even for anybody. I think it's better when it's for somebody."

The doors to the store were being unlocked, and everybody at the front of the line was focused on that now. The young man began to walk toward the parking lot.

"Thank you," she was finally able to say. She repeated it again, louder.
He turned, and smiled. "Merry Christmas," he said, then turned back toward his car.
"Merry Christmas," she repeated quietly to herself.

[GOTY] Best Game of 07: The Orange Box

Aaron Dunlap — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 13:37:52 -0600

Despite what some award-show winners have to say, this wasn't a very excellent year for games. Think of the biggest, most-anticipated games of 2007 and think about how they turned out.

Halo 3 was probably the most anticipated game, and while its multiplayer component is pretty expansive, the single-player campaign (you know, the reason most of us buy a video game) was mediocre and occasionally downright boring. Assassin's Creed was another hugely-anticipated game, and it had the graphics and control scheme we all wanted, but in the midst of making all that it seems that Ubisoft forgot to throw in an actual game. What about Crysis? One of the most-hyped PC releases by the Microsoft camp? It sold less than 90,000 copies in its launch window.

Only a few of the anticipated games of the year really met anybody's expectations. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is, well, it's Call of Duty 4. You guys seemed to really eat up BioShock, too. Super Mario Galaxy is amazing as well. Our Game of the Year award is supposed to be about innovation, though, and aside from being very well-made products, what this year has really innovated things?

What about The Orange Box? Was anybody really excited for that? Were leaked screenshots filtering onto the web and rumors flying like they were for Halo 3? Not so much. People weren't really lined up the block to get them some Orange Box. Without much fanfare, it just... arrived. And when it did, our eyes were opened.

The Orange Box has three primary components and two secondary components. The big ticket items are: Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Portal, and Team Fortress 2. The not-so-big-deal items are Half-Life 2, and Half-Life 2: Episode One. That alone is pretty innovative. For your $50-60, you're getting 3 new (albeit short) games, one somewhat-new (new for consoles) game, and one game that happens to be one of the top-5 games ever made. How often does that happen, a game's expansion pack coming out and including the full game and the previous expansion pack plus two ancillary games that are downright genius by themselves?

Portal, though brief (for most people), is a brilliant game. At heart it's a simple puzzle game, but through unique means it is given more character than most full-sized games. The cake is a lie, I'm still alive, weighted companion cubes, this game has produced more internet memes per hour of gameplay than any other game could ever hope to achieve. It's complex and simple simultaneously, beautiful and ugly at the same time, charming and depressing in the same moment. The concept of portals is intriguing and a technological marvel, but it would be quite simple to make 19 levels of portal-puzzles become a boring heap.

Half-Life 2: Episode Two is another giant leap forward for the Half-Life 2 franchise. The Source engine has been spruced up with new dynamic lighting effects, a particle physics system, and a new graphics system to allow for beautifully expansive vistas to be rendered in real-time. The way the story unfolds around you and the ingenious-as-ever level designs are all top rate. People who haven't played Half-Life 2 get confused when people like me go on about how amazing the level design is, but once you've had a taste for Valve's work you can't stomach anything lesser. Play through Episode One, Episode Two, and Portal with the creator commentary system enabled and you'll understand just how much thought and work went into nearly every element of the gameplay design. Valve's games get months and months of testing and tightening before they see the light of day, and it all shows. The sheer level of quality in any of these games is just staggering when compared to the sloppy layouts, imprecise goals, and backtracking you find in most modern games.

It's a congested season for online multiplayer games. Halo 3 with its mega-millions user base is probably the most-played game right now and Call of Duty 4 with its perhaps-superior online element is drawing a lot of players, but Team Fortress 2 is still wedging its way into the market. Perhaps the longest-developed multiplayer game we're likely to see for a while, TF 2 has as much character as any other Valve game. It's not Counter-Strike in terms of repressed teenagers working out their social issues with actual guns, it's something better. It's something for everyone. Everyone who likes shooting folks, at least.

Let's not forget Half-Life 2 and Episode One and the fact that The Orange Box is available for the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, so for the people who aren't PC gamers, this could be their first chance to play these games. That in mind, there's dozens of hours of offline gameplay in this box. It's easy to discount an "old" game as not being worth anybody's time, but Half-Life 2 should be above such trivialities, being again one of the best games ever made.

If I can talk for a moment about the endings of Episode Two and Portal, sure they're not exactly the definition of "closure," but they're also not shameless, unsatisfying, "Buy the sequel" endings we're getting from nearly every game this year, from Assassin's Creed to Unreal Tournament III to Crysis . There's a difference between leaving the people wanting more and simply forgetting to include an ending. The Valve products leave you wanting more, the other games just destroy any sense of finality to the ending and kick you in the shins for having the audacity to become attached to the story.

So our Game of the Year is a compilation of 5 other games, partly because each game is an amazing product on its own, partly because the whole concept of packaging them all together is pretty innovative, and partly still because it's one of the few games of the year that didn't leave me disappointed or annoyed after it all. If I could instigate any change to the gaming industry, it would be more play-testing.

Most games these days are only play-tested while they're being developed to make sure there's no glaring bugs preventing the game from working, and as soon as the game is done it's stamped on a disk and rushed to stores via overnight shipping. Some games get a few weeks of post-completion play-testing, if there's time. Episode Two and Portal were play-tested for six months, deadlines and launch windows be-damned. They're not just looking for bugs and glitches, but seeing how people play the game, making sure they understand what they're supposed to be doing. If a goal is ambiguous, or if people are frustrated by an element, they change that part of the game to make sure everything is as clear and as fun as possible. Play through the games with the commentary enabled to hear just how much work goes into each element.

If Assassin's Creed had been play-tested for six months, I imagine I would hate it a lot less. They might have had time to realize that the gameplay is extremely tedious and overly-repetitive , that the game spends the first 6 hours telling you to avoid sword fights and the last hour putting you in nothing but sword fights, that the plot is ridiculous and impossible to follow, and that everybody is talking way too much. If Kane & Lynch: Dead Men had received any play-testing, they might have been able to do something about the entire game being a train wreck.

If anything, The Orange Box and Valve deserve Game of the Year just for striving for quality in a time when doing so is unfashionable, but they're getting it for reaching quality in a time when it's seen as too much work.

[GOTY] Best Portable Game of 07: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

Aaron Dunlap — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 13:16:00 -0600

Why It Won: Zelda games come around more frequently than Mario games and so aren't held to the same absurd scrutiny. In fact, after a lifetime of mostly-identical storylines (the princess is kidnapped, oh noes!) it wouldn't be altogether ridiculous to wonder when something new would come along for Link to do besides spend all day fishing, blowing into an ocarina, and looking for pieces of the much-elusive Tri-force. I'd all but discounted the series as an ad-tedium retread of the same concepts when The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass came along and I, feeling sorry for my oft-neglected DS, decided to give it a whirl.

Phantom Hourglass is refreshing on many counts. Rather than trying to transpose some pre-fab Zelda tale onto the DS and throwing in a few inane mini-games for the sake of utilizing the hardware's features (like nearly every Wii game being made still), Phantom Hourglass is built from the ground up for the DS and the dual-screen, touch-screen, and microphoney features are etched into the very fabric of the game. Though it may sound off-putting, the only way to control our cel-shaded Link is by dragging the stylus around the screen (no D-pad), the only way to skip through conversations is by tapping the screen (no face buttons), and except to activate them, every weapon and tool is exclusively controlled by the touchscreen. Need to extinguish a fire to continue through one of the countless labyrinthine temples, caves, and dungeons? Just it out? Need to send your boomerang on a serpentine course across the map to defeat baddies, break open some vases, and return their contents to you? Stay back where it's safe and draw a wiry course for the boomerang to follow. Need to remember the key to a puzzle, the best route through a maze, or the positions of hidden treasure chests? Just draw them on your map.

No element of this game feels shoe-horned in. The story is actually a bit engaging and not a repeat of the same thing we've been doing for 20 years now. There's no Ganondorf or Tri-Force or Epona or, hell, not even a Zelda. This straight-sequel to Wind Waker manages to be unique, fun, and simple at the same time. I was starting to think that there would never be a portable game that could hold my attention when I'm surrounded by high-definition consoles and crazy-huge gaming PCs, but here's The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass proving me wrong.

Why You May Disagree: The most common complaint I read from naysayers is that the lack of D-pad controls is a "slap in the face" to longtime Zelda fans. Others find the constant ocean-faring tedious. Others are afraid that playing a game with a cel-shaded protagonist will damage the delicate fabric holding their heterosexuality intact.

But We Say: Is the reason you liked previous Zelda games because of the immersive story and addictive gameplay, or because you move the character around by sliding your thumb around a plastic cross? The touchscreen control might look awkward at first, but it feels perfectly comfortable. Also, since every tool and weapon is controlled via the touchscreen it would become too confusing to constantly switch back and forth from the D-pad to the stylus. if you want to control a character with a D-pad, try playing any other video game ever made. The sea-travel can seem a bit monotonous, but there's usually something to do on the way, and there are ways around it.

Runner Up:

Contra 4: This was the first game in a long time to "feel" like a Contra game. The fast-paced shooter is one of the best portables released this year and deserves recognition, but the joy it takes in its difficulty makes it a game not for everyone, and besides taking advantage of both screens the only real reason for this game to be on the DS is because it would look ridiculous on any other platform. What the game needs is a boomerang you control by drawing its path with the stylus.

Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions: The PSP release of the nine-year-old PlayStation classic, FFT: War of the Lions is possibly the best RPG available on Sony's handheld and is an absolute requisite purchase if you owned and loved the original. However, this fresh version does feature some subtle changes that tend to annoy fans, including slower spell animations, adjusted dialogue (though we find this a plus), and the lack of online multiplayer. Considering the huge potential for online battles as opposed to just ad hoc (which requires two PSPs and two copies of the game), this is a significant drawback.

That Duke Nukem Forever Teaser Is Out... A Decade Late

Aaron Dunlap — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 14:57:22 -0600

So you've been waiting ten years for Duke Nukem Forever (question: why?) and what have you got to show for it? This video, that's what.

The video features no actual gameplay, and basically confirms the following facts: Duke Nukem will be in it, so will aliens.

Personally, I don't see the point of being excited for a game from a company whose last product was made over a decade ago and after 10 years of working on one game has nothing to show for it but a rendered video that could be done by a college 3D graphics class in an afternoon. But hey, that's just me.

If you wish, check out the video after the jump.

Editorial: So, Like, The COD4 Chernobyl Level Is Based On a Real Place and Junk?

Aaron Dunlap — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 11:47:04 -0600

Is our children learning? I think the answer is no.

Like most people with even a fraction of an education, I enjoyed the level in Call of Duty 4 taking place in post-meltdown Chernobyl because of the accurate and realistic portrayal of the barren, radioactive landscape.

Chernobyl is a city in Russia where a nuclear power plant exploded in 1986. It was one of the largest disasters of the modern era. Hundreds of square miles are still radioactive over 20 years later, thousands of people died from the radioactivity from the waste seeping from the nuclear reactor. It's estimated that over 500,000 people have been seriously affected. Mutations, radiation poisoning, deformed offspring.

I didn't know that anybody didn't know that. Even if you don't know about it because of its significance in human tragedy or engineering failure, you know about it because everybody else knows about it. Almost everybody.

Recently, someone posted some photos from Chernobyl to compare them to Call of Duty 4 screenshots. Then, as is the most proper thing to do, someone put the photos on YouTube with a Linkin Park song over it to post it in this nextgenboards thread. The reactions, and the replies, have destroyed a special part of the inside of my brain.

People have no idea what Chernobyl is.

Here's one early reply:

OMFG what scary yet brilliant story those pics as well the game or at least some off the levels must be set here

Alright, that doesn't count as a logical sentiment or thought, so maybe it's just "first post" syndrome. Lets keep reading...

wow walking thru there must be cool, after you played the game. Might make you think your really in the game lol, but thats cool they used real places

Awesome. The only connection to one of man's greatest disasters is that it would remind you of a video game level.

Yeah worst part its radioactive. So u can die. But i would go there to be like Dam.

Yes. I too would go there to be like Dam. Though, I don't think the worst part is that it's radioactive; I think that's the only part.

The next reply:

creppy, is it really radioactive? if so, why?

Don't let your heads explode just yet, he is quickly educated:

The reactor melted down. and spilled it in the air. so everyone had to leve.

*boom*

I love to think that video games are helping to educate our youngsters, (everything I know about guns I learned from gaming...) but this is taking it a little far. It's Chernobyl for crying out loud. What are our public schools doing? Do people know that the events surrounding previous Call of Duty games (World War II) actually happened, too? Perhaps The Daily Show would have to do a bit about Chernobyl before today's youth would become aware of it.

Granted, this might not represent an accurate sample of our population, but not a single person in that forum seemed to have any idea that Chernobyl is a real place with a real meltdown. I think perhaps a few hours every day browsing Wikipedia articles should be mandatory.