CRYENGINE 3 RELEASED: NEW TRAILER WILL MAKE YOU DROOL

OK Crytek. Enough with the next gen game engine tease already. Where is Crysis 2 and when will Xbox 360 and PS3 owners get to see all your hard work in action? *tick-tock-tick-tock*

Hopefully it won’t be too much longer now as the CryEngine 3 has been released to developers as of yesterday October 15, 2009. Crysis 2 has no set date yet, but it should be out sometime in 2010. Along with a whole other mix of games. I’m curious to see if the new Crysis 2 game will have the same effect on game delays as Modern Warfare 2 had on holiday 2009 titles. Will another military FPS scare away the competition in 2010? With the awesome potential on full display in this video, I wouldn’t be surprised. Not one bit.

Until then, cheers to Crytek for their historic accomplishment. Now get back to work! Console owners want to see this engine in action already.

ENTER THE VAULT: INTERSTELLAR MARINES

Those damn 4-legged sharks are back! Those damn landshark, ‘Tremor’ movie creatures with shiny teeth and a wicked tail to match. But this time, you have a chance to see them more up close and personal. You can enlist right now with the Interstellar Marines and ‘get access to interactive and playable content’. Which basically means, you can access a 3D walkthrough of one of their screenshots. However, Zero Point Software will be opening up new sections of the vault so you can return again and see something new. Maybe in a week or two.

Interstellar Marines is a AAA First Person Shooter currently being developed for the PC. In time, it will be released for the 360 and the PS3. Assuming the developers like to make as much money as possible. Which I bet they do. Can’t wait!

Credit: Joystiq

BRUTAL LEGEND: DEMO IMPRESSIONS

Activision dropping Double Fine Production’s ‘Brutal Legend’ was probably a bad idea. Win for EA, definite loss for Activision. I think I finally understand why they tried to block Brutal Legend from being released. Activision realized they made a pretty big mistake in letting this one go. Maybe a couple. One mistake was underestimating the talent and overall creative ability of Double Fine Productions. Ever heard of a game called Pyschonauts? It was just a sample of the greatness to come that is Brutal Legend. Somehow EA saw past the creative risks and they most likely will be rewarded for it. The second mistake, and probably their biggest, was trying to stop it’s release claiming they still had publishing rights to the game, when they were really just afraid of the effect the release would have on it’s Guitar Hero franchise. This was not a good move in the eyes of the public.

So let’s get this straight, Double Fine starts making this game with Activision as the publisher. Activision decides,’ hey you know what? We’ve reevaluated this game and decided to drop it. Sorry, but we have more games lined up that will surely make us more money.’ So Double Fine says, ‘well then fine.. in fact, double fine! This game is going to get published with you or without you.’ Then EA flies in like Superman to save this title from game limbo. And after a few lawsuits, and counter lawsuits, that’s how it still stands. Brutal Legend will not be stopped. EA stepped up the plate and made it happen. (Anyone notice how EA seems to becoming a better company lately? People are actually starting to like them again. Including myself.)

So with all the marketing and hoopla out there about this game, I only had one problem. I didn’t know what the hell this game was all about! Is it a rock game? Is it an action game? Will there be a guitar controller? Will Rock legends of generations past fly out of my TV screen and force me to make an 80’s inspired music video? That would be pretty sweet, but what kind of game is this? I don’t get it. All I knew was, it was Double Fine Productions, Tim Shafer is creative genius, and Jack Black is the voice of the main character, Eddie Riggs. With those facts in place, I was still unconvinced this game would live up to the hype. And after playing the demo, I’m not sure it changed anything. But I sure know a hell of a lot more about this game than before, and… I think I liked it.

For the first few minutes of the Brutal Legend demo, you don’t really do anything. And for good reason, as the demo gives you the story behind one of the greatest ‘roadies’ of all time. I am thankful that they did this because I was so confused about what this game really was. I won’t get too detailed with the story, but let’s just say heavy metal seems to be dead, and little emo kids are taking its place. (Wait, this is a fantasy world right? Sounds like reality to me.) Eddie then finds himself immersed into a fantasy world inspired by heavy metal album covers. With a mighty axe and magical guitar at his side, Eddie becomes this fantasy worlds savior as he leads the humans against a bunch of supernatural powers. Oh, he also has a bad ass hot rod to run shit over. Nice touch!

First thing that jumped out at me, besides the beautifully crafted artwork, was how brutal this game really was. And by brutal, I mean unapologetically bloody. Not to mention the coarse language, but with the language issue, Double Fine implemented a featured that throws a pop-up message on screen before Eddie spews out the profane words heard so often in rated R movies. I liked this feature. You can choose to hear all the words meant to be said in all its glory, or you could choose to have it bleeped out as if you’re watching PBS or KCET. I of course, chose to hear Jack Black be Jack Black, and read through his lines as it was meant to be. It was a good choice, however, the option was convenient if you have a kid or little nephew playing this with you. Block it if you want, or let it play as it was meant to be played. In my opinion, I’d just keep the kids away from this one.

With Eddie’s weapons, you can swing the axe and kill the demons coming after you using the A button. You can throw them up in the air and smack ’em towards left field ‘Babe Ruth’ style. You can summon the guitar gods with your guitar weapon to electrocute your enemies. You can perform some type of ground shaker move where you slam to the ground, launching your enemies back and sending boulders tumbling down around you. Gameplay was pretty basic and simple, but you can throw in a couple of combos which was nice. Upgrades along the way should help keep the weapons and vehicles fresh.

What impressed me most about this demo was Jack Black. He is the perfect guy for this role and his voice acting made the game very enjoyable for me. I couldn’t help but laugh as he really brought Eddie to life. He really made me feel like I was seeing this world through the eyes of Eddie. This bizarre fantasy world full of red skies, skulls and bones all over the place and just weird looking creatures. Creatures, vehicles and environments only Tim Shafer and Double Fine Productions could create. If you have played or seen Psychonauts, you know what I’m talking about.

In all, I enjoyed this demo and the idea behind this game is growing on me. I’ll have to see or play more to be convinced it’s a purchase but for now, I definitely want to at least rent this game and play through it all. I don’t doubt for a second this game will be a blast as the short demo surprisingly was. I still don’t know where the whole Guitar Hero issue came into play as there was only one part of the game that was similar to that title. It came in the form of a mini game where you had to play a quick solo to progress through the next stage of the level. As the guitar icon goes from left to right, you have to hit X, Y, A, B accordingly. It was a nice touch, but again, not sure how much they will use this in the game. They used this feature once in the demo, and it was over with in just a few short seconds. So, mainly this title is a third person action-adventure, and the Guitar Hero similarity may have been toned down. Add in multiplayer to the list of reasons you should play this game, and I think somewhere down the line you will see this game being a success. Time will tell.

Check out the demo for yourself and tell me what you think!

Brutal Legend will be released, this ‘Rocktober‘ 13, 2009.

THE GAMER REPORT REVIEW: BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM

Holy Top-5 games of all time, Batman! That’s right my peeps and fellow gamers, Batman: Arkham Asylum is easily Game of the Year material in my opinion. This title easily goes right up there in the top 5 games I have ever played for any system. Everything in this game absolutely oozes attention to detail. Fun gameplay and just pure awesomeness. One thing that came as a real surprise to me was that the demo for this game didn’t really grab me. Well, I can tell you that the demo is very meager in comparison to the full copy of the game. This game is equal parts of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Devil May Cry and Splinter Cell all rolled into one stellar experience. It is extremely well paced, challenging at times and very engaging. I am telling you now, once you pick this one up and dive into the awesome world that is Arkham, you won’t want to stop. The detective mode alone is really cool and sorta give you a hybrid X-Ray and infrared type of vision. I had it on almost the entire game and it never bugged me one bit.

Let’s start out with the premise of this game. The story begins almost identical to the demo, with Batman capturing Joker and driving him to the asylum in the Bat-mobile. While booking him into the asylum, Batman is worried as Joker basically gave up without a fight. Batman knows that something is up, and something definitely is. Upon booking the Joker, he ends up escaping and getting loose in the asylum. Most of the goons and patients are peeps that the Caped Crusader had put in there in the first place, and it’s got that lingering feel of the movies where the cop gets put in jail. As it so turns out, the whole fiasco was planned, and Harley Quinn has already prepared for Jokers arrival and Batman is now in Jokers funhouse full of maniacs. The story just gets better and better as you go.

The game is incredibly immersive, and really puts you in the shoes of the Batman we all grew up watching and reading about. The voice work is top notch with the characters that have been doing the cartoon for years providing the dialogue. I had no idea that Mark Hammil, (Luke Skywalker in Star Wars) did the voice of the Joker. You would never guess it was him unless you knew.

The cutscenes are also terrific, a nice change from the games I have played as of late. Polish, polish, polish! Take notes on this game developers!

Stalking your enemies is so fun, the basic formula never really seems to get old. Zip-line up to a gargoyle, glide down and kick the shit outta someone, zip back up before detected and wait to take out the next thug. Once you obtain more gadgets, the possibilities really get cool. My personal favorite that was executed flawlessly is the explosive gel. Once unlocked, you will be able to paint explosive gel in the shape of a bat, (nice touch) and remotely detonate it. This gadget becomes especially awesome when you use it as a weapon. Use the aforementioned formula but instead of zip-lining back up to the gargoyles to lay and wait, paint some gel on the enemy you just took out, then zip back up and wait for his comrades to come and scope out the body, once they do, detonate the gel and take them all out. Cool stuff, eh? It only gets better from there. The ways in which you can dispatch of your enemies is just plain awesome.

On the subject of enemies, without giving anything away, Scarecrow is one of the best enemies I have ever seen portrayed in a game. The sections of the game containing Scarecrow are absolutely incredible. Just a hint to those who are going to play it: there will come a time about mid-game where you think your console is freezing or crashing. I won’t give anything away, but it’s not crashing or glitching, just let it play itself out for one of the best in-game moments I have ever witnessed.

It’s also quite ironic that most of the boss battles in the game you aren’t really actually fighting, but rather playing a sort of mini-game to take them out. While this sounds uninviting, it works well. There are however a couple of boss fights that are combat oriented, but they feel a little uninteresting and repetitive compared to the mini-game style battles I just spoke of. The “freeflow” combat that is implemented has its ups and downs. The ups are that it stays true to the name, “freeflow. The animations are just plain sweet as you fly from enemy to enemy countering and beating the snot outta them. Where it takes a dive is when the camera swings to a radical angle and takes you out of scope of the rest of the enemies. This becomes particularly annoying when an enemy that you cannot even see attacks you and ruins your combo. It’s not a huge issue, but a nag nonetheless. It’s kind of a shame as the Challenge half of the game sort of suffers from the flaws in the system. Gliding, zip-lining and grappling just feel good, and even navigating never really seems to get old.

The collectibles in the game are very cool too, particularly the Riddler’s Challenges. Each time you enter a new area, a Green riddle with question marks will appear next to the name of the area and indicate somewhere in that area, there is answer to the riddle. Once you find it, a hold of the left bumper will sort of snap a pic. If you are right, it will tell you the riddle has been solved. Some of the really cool ones involve using detective mode to position yourself somewhere in a room where you can see a question mark sort of painted on the wall or ground. They start out pretty simple, but sometimes the dot of the question mark will be on a ledge or ceiling. Sometimes you even need to position yourself so that 3-4 ledges or tiers need to make the question mark. I thought it was a very neat way to implement a collectible in the game, and I am sure most would agree it’s puzzling (no pun intended) that other game developers didn’t think of something like this yet. I am sure many will copy this idea in some way, shape or form in the future.

This game is deep, intricate and absolutely AMAZING. It’s a must play for anybody who remotely enjoys Batman. If this game doesn’t get game of the year, I will be amazed! I know that that’s saying something with some of the bigger titles like ODST, and Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. While I usually would rent this particular type of game, I wouldn’t pass up buying it if you got the cheddar. If you have played it, drop us a line and let us know what you think!

**Stay tuned for a review of Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2

-DIGGITY OUT

THE GAMER REPORT REVIEW: WOLFENSTEIN

Ahhhhhhh. Good old Wolfenstein! I remember many late nights on the OG XBOX, playing Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Good times. That game had an incredible class-based multiplayer and a single player campaign that was tough, long and enjoyable. Then along came the new CG trailer of Wolfenstein with some much improved animation and graphics, and even some disintegrating Nazi’s! This one looked like it had some potential right? Well, hopefully this review will help you decide if you want to awaken the Nazi-killing inglorious bastard within yourself once more.

The campaign mode actually took me by surprise. It had a open-world kind of feel to it, and had all the mechanics and graphics of a title like Call of Duty. Mix in a little sci-fi like super-powers, and a couple really interesting bosses, and this campaign was actually pretty enjoyable. Although I missed the death-traps and creative enemies (dog’s with Gatling guns anybody?) and the general challenge that the old-school Wolfenstein provided, I still think it’s one of the most solid FPS campaigns I have played to date. Campaign being the key word there.

I really liked the way the weapons were laid out. Similar to Bioshock, you can upgrade your weapons to house more ammo, increase accuracy, attach a scope etc. Not only do the physics of the weapons change, but the physical appearance as well. What starts out as a simple bolt action rifle with slow reloading, becomes a super-badass sniper rifle by the time it’s upgraded. Same goes for all the other weapons, my personal favorite being the assault rifle. It starts off looking like an AK47, but by the time it’s fully upgraded, it looks like something out of Starship Troopers! It’s a nice change from developers who try and over-think weapons that just end up being cheesy and worthless. There is even a few super-weapons you get later in the game, one of which literally disintegrates enemies into melting bones. Yea, I said melting bones. What’s not to like about that?

But that’s where the fun stops on this one folks. I can honestly say that this game is a rental at best, simply because the multiplayer blows goats. Talk about lag! WOW! You will not believe how bad the connection fluctuates during gameplay. So bad that you will see the connection “bars” constantly bouncing all over the place, with the host of the game keeping full connection. Might have been fun for him but for everyone else? Not at all. It’s really bad and almost makes the game damn near unplayable. Several times my floating dead body would spawn in third person view, and I could levitate it as if I was moving and strafing. The hit-detection is awful, the and the graphics and frame-rate take a serious dive in comparison with the single player game. Kind of a shame as the single-player portion of this game was solid and really fun. There is a Call of Duty style leveling system, and the same upgradeable weapons you will find in the single player game, which is executed well as an idea, but the atrocious gameplay sends this one plummeting downward.

All in all, this new blend of Wolfenstein is definitely not on par with the Wolfenstein of old. Give this one a rent at least if you are looking for a decent single player campaign experience. Fans of the classic Wolfenstein titles beware, this multiplayer is downright awful. I must say, Raven Software has really impressed me as of late, developing some great titles. It’s a shame that either they didn’t have the time, or the resources to build both the single and multiplayer versions of this game because had the awesome effort transferred over to the multiplayer, this one would have been a winner.

** Stay tuned for the Game of the Year: Batman: Arkham Asylum review

-DIGGITY OUT

WET DEMO IMPRESSIONS

I‘ll admit that there was something about WET that intrigued me. Yes, besides the name of this new title. And for you adolescent pervs out there, just because the main character of the game is female does not mean you will see her get WET. It has a completely different meaning and Artifical Mind and Movement makes sure to explain it in the very beginning. The screenshots that were teased early on in their marketing campaign, had me very hopeful that I would see a new artistic take on the 3rd person shooter genre. In the end, I think I got what I wanted. Though I am a bit skeptical that WET will be something that I, and other gamers like myself, will actually end up purchasing. Because let’s face it, if a new IP comes out, you automatically want to know if the game is worth “buying” or if it’s “just a rental.” No sense on buying a game that doesn’t accomplish its overall goal of establishing itself with the must have games that are currently out and competing for the number one spot. Let’s just jump right in and get WET shall we?

The Bad:

First off, I found the old fashioned western film “screen flicker” to be extremely annoying. I get what the developers were trying to do, but it’s not necessary. There is so much movement on the screen when the action begins, I don’t need the screen to be constantly flickering as it makes it too chaotic for my taste. I felt like it was going to cause someone to have a seizure or something. Even when the action stopped, that damn flicker was still there. Which was an automatic turn off for me though I soldiered on and tried to ignore it.

The game starts off like a mix of the movie Kill Bill, blending into a Lara Croft Tomb Raider-ish action sequence with a large dose of John Woo’s Stranglehold. Sounds like a decent mix right? With the wild and weird music to put it all together, it took a while to get used to. Though the gameplay controls were instantly intuitive. The gameplay itself was a bit too much for me as each time you jump, slide, or wall run to shoot your enemies in slow motion, it left me feeling like the Max Payne “bullet time” limitations could have been enforced to cease the endless fast pace-slow pace of taking out your opponents. Moving on.

As you quickly progress into the next stage, you can tell how films have heavily influenced this game. Even including, I’m sorry but really not a fan, Eliza Dushku as the main characters voice. I couldn’t help but think the demo could have been better without the cheesy and typical movie dialogue. Do you ever watch a movie with big name stars and think to yourself, “y’know, this movie would have been a lot better if there was a different actor or actress playing that part.” No? Well I do. I’d much rather hear a unknown talented voice behind the main character of a game or movie as I couldn’t help but think of Dushku’s previous movie roles. So it seemed to take the immersiveness out of it for me. Using an unknown voice, ends up establishing that exact voice as the main character. Makes it more believable. Think, Cortana from the Halo trilogy. Could you imagine Cortana’s voice as, say.. Angelina Jolie? No. It would totally kill it and would no longer be Cortana. It would be Angelina playing Cortana, and that’s how I felt with the main character, Rubi.

One last note on the bad before the good begins, the actual enemy characters you face, just so happen to be twins. Around every corner, the same guy. Sometimes even triplets. I don’t know how so many of these clones got there but it’s as if game engine limitations and technology have not been increased over the last 10 years. I don’t want to be fighting 2-4 guys at the same time and have them all look the same. Game studios need to manage this more efficiently in my opinion. Cut a couple of texture resolutions down to free up memory. Take out some irrelevant geometry taking up ridiculous amounts of space. Do whatever you have to do to not show the same character on the screen at the same time. I hate it. If the enemies are not a bunch of underground species of Locust’s from Gears, there is no need to look exactly the same. I don’t want to see it. Especially when they perform the same robotic actions when you’re fighting them.

The Good, and the Surprisingly Awesome:

I was fully prepared to rip this demo a part with all my heart and soul. If that were actually possible of course. I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I was going to try it though. But then the WET demo kicked into a gear I did not see coming.

Once I got past the beginning stage of diving, wall running and sliding all over the place in bullet time to take out repetitive enemies, something bad happened. Something bad ass is more like it. The main character, Rubi? Well, you see, she ended up getting blood on her face. She got WET. Which set off a chain of events that at first looked over the top to me when I saw prior footage of this on YouTube, but this WET mode actually ended up being so warranted. I found it to be unsettlingly satisfying. Way more than my old conservative soul would like to admit.

You still get to perform the overdone, yet somehow still relevant bullet time to kill off the massive amount of enemies, but all of this is in a simple color palette of plain black, red and hints of white. That’s it, and this is where the stylized art from Artificial Mind and Movement really jumps out and screams at you, “Hey you! Kid!? Look at this shit! aaaaahahaha!” Awesome. That’s what it feels like going through this WET sequence of events, bullet time, shooting and even slashing away at your enemies. Slashing you say? Yes, she does have a sword and using it is probably one of the most rewarding parts of this games action. That part, was spot on.

Finally, the developers switched gears yet again which made me sit more up-right as laying down was not the ideal position to be in when going into the final act. There seemed like there were three whole parts to this demo and each one made me pay more attention. Almost like I was experiencing multiple different games as I progressed. This time, you go through a series of Quick Time Events (QTE) which immediately reminded me of Indigo Prophecy. But the way this part was pulled off, may have been better executed.

You finish the demo by riding on top of a car driving down the freeway while shooting at enemies in vehicles driving next to you. The car you’re riding on just happens to crash (duh, this sequence of events is planned out in advance) but don’t worry, if you press A or X just in time, you can perform the amazing aeriel stunts to make your way onto other vehicles passing by. I had to do this a couple of times as I uncontrollably gawked at the action taking place instead of paying attention to what button I needed to press to keep that action going. But I didn’t mind. I did not get frustrated restarting the whole thing over again. Watching Rubi leap from one vehicle, wall run onto the side of a swerving truck and then onto an enemy vehicle to see her slash the poor dude’s hand off was more than enough reason to purposely not hit the next button, just to see her do it all again. Well done, well done indeed.

In the end.. the demo did not start off well in my opinion. But what Artificial Mind and Movement did to make up for it, sure beats the hell out of any single player demo I have played this year on Xbox Live. With WET being only a single player game, and the fact that the game releases around the same time as HALO: ODST, I doubt sales will do as well as the developers and Bethesda would expect. However, if the demo is any indication as to what to expect of the full retail version, I can see gamers returning to play this game later on in the year once they’re done getting their Halo fix. Even if it’s just a rental.

Did you play the demo yet? If so, let me know what you think in the comments!

ARMY OF TWO: THE 40TH DAY PROMO YOU MUST SEE

I admit I was not a big fan of the first Army of Two. After seeing it hyped up for so long, and knowing that I wanted to play it very badly, once I actually got my hands on it, I was extremely disappointed. Even with a buddy playing with me side by side, it felt underwhelming. The aiming was odd, the lighting made everything look washed out and the enemy AI was so weak it’s not even worth talking about. What was I looking for in this game? I was looking for a co-op experience better than Gears of War. I guess that’s harder to accomplish than I thought. Maybe it will the second time around?

With that said, I can’t deny EA’s promotion skills when hyping up their games. They really are some of the best in this industry and I give them credit for that. This promotional video featuring the characters of Army of Two interacting with real life people is by far one of the best edited video game promotions I have ever seen. This video connects with the “regular guy” on so many levels. Because let’s face it, how many of us know exactly how that dude feels when he shot the copy machine? I know if I was a bad ass and carried weapons on me 24/7, I would not hesitate to put a cap in the copy machine at my day job. In fact, I dream about it on a nightly basis. Man, to be a video game character for a day…

Credit: That VideoGame Blog

MICROSOFT STORE MISSION VIEJO, CA: APPLE STORE CLEARLY IN ITS SIGHTS

Fall 2009 is right around the corner and along with Fall comes Microsoft’s Windows 7 release date, due to release to the public on October 22. So what else is due? How about the first of two brand new Microsoft Stores to coincide with the scheduled release of its newest operating system? Sounds like the perfect plan, doesn’t it? One of Microsoft’s new stores will be opened soon at The Shops at Mission Viejo in Mission Viejo, California and the other at Scottsdale Fashion Square in Scottsdale, Arizona. I happen to live in Mission Viejo so lucky me, I get to see the store, a.k.a. this giant white box with stickers, firsthand. (I tried to peak inside, but the door was locked.) But I did notice something I’d like to point out. One of the things I noticed was its curiously close proximity to another consumer electronics store inside The Shops at Mission Viejo.

Now this might not be a big deal to some, but I couldn’t help but notice, not only is there an Apple Store in this same exact mall, but the location of these two competitors are only 8 stores away from each other. Yes, I counted. But that may not even be the most interesting part about what I noticed when comparing the two stores tonight. You see, I have a little “Mall Spy”, a.k.a. my fashionista girlfriend who works as a visual merchandiser and is at the mall almost 24/7, and she mentioned to me that most mall employees have been curiously guessing at what was behind these white boarded barriers before the stickers went up today. The store that occupied this space prior to Microsoft’s construction was a large clothing store called “The Limited”. And from what I have been told, the rumors around the mall was that the retail store taking its place had to be an H & M, Anthropology or another Hollister store due to its size and layout. Because let’s face it, all a Southern California Mall needs is another Hollister store, right? But to everyone’s surprise today, it ended up being none other than the first Microsoft Store itself, leaving everyone stunned since no one really knew these stores were coming. Except for maybe the most informed Microsoft fans and media of course. I mean, personally, I read about these stores being planned, but I didn’t know when and where. Now I do.

So as you can tell from the map at The Shops at Mission Viejo, (this might not be to scale but you can get a general idea in the pictures I’m posting), the size difference when you compare the Microsoft Store to the Apple store is quite drastic. The Apple Store might as well be a GameStop and the Microsoft Store might as well be a Best Buy. It’s ridiculous! And I am curious to know if Apple is going to decide to upgrade its current location. Maybe take over the baby store next door and double its showroom floor? It might have to if the Microsoft Store steals some of its traffic. Because let’s face it, Microsoft obviously has some big plans for Fall and if we all know Microsoft as well as we think we do, they always have big surprises up their sleeves. (If they aren’t already leaked beforehand) Say what you will about them. Love or Hate, they can definitely start a buzz. And that buzz has just begun in Mission Viejo, California.

I’ll try and keep updating my blog with the construction progress and I’ll take any new photos worth looking at. As for now, there really isn’t much to see other than this. All we can do is speculate on Microsoft’s big plans. But if you want to see what the design plans are, they have been leaked already. (of course they have, what doesn’t get leaked now days?) You can find 54 slides leaked onto Gizmodo and read a lot more details on what to expect when you walk into this Microsoft Oasis.

Huge flat screens wrapping the entire store, planned demos of new XBOX 360 Games, Project Natal, maybe even, dare I say, a release party for the often rumored but never confirmed portable gaming system to compete with PSP, iPhone and DSi!? Ahhh man, I can dream can’t I? But questions still remain. Will this new store have any effect on the Apple Store just steps away? Are Mac, iPhone and iPod users the type of people that would switch sides? I don’t think they are. Apple fans seem to be a loyally hardcore group. Can Microsoft compete with the amount of items in an Apple Store? Will consumers want to shop in a store full of software that they can get just about anywhere else? A portable gaming system, cell phone and Microsoft built PC’s would certainly help. But those don’t exist as of yet. What will draw in these consumers? It will be very interesting to see Microsoft’s overall plan of action once these stores are open.

What do you think about all this? Please let me know in the comments.

ACTIVISION NOT SCARING EVERYONE OFF INTO 2010

I want to touch base on a topic I have discussed in the past concerning videogames and their release dates. Specifically, the amount of videogames that are released at the end of the year, just in time for the holiday rush. I read an article recently published on GOONL!NE, by Jonathan Cullen, and is titled “Congratulations, Activision, You’ve scared Everyone Off.” I found this article and Jonathan’s theory quite interesting. Interesting enough to post a comment, reluctantly in defense of Activision. Don’t get me wrong, the people talking about Activision as if they are turning into the EA of old, have a point. I agree with them to a certain extent but not regarding their Q4 2009 game releases. To blame Activision for making Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 one of the most wanted games of the year, and in turn scaring off other publishers from releasing their games around the same time is just not a theory I choose to believe. One game scaring off more than half the competition into 2010? C’mon! There are gamers out there who do play other games besides Call of Duty, y’know?

First off, all a publisher needs to do is look at the saturation of game releases of Q4 in 2008. (You can read my gripe about this in a post I wrote back in February titled “Too many games, not enough time.”) There were a lot of games released last year during a short period of time. A lot of excellent quality games. A couple of the good ones that didn’t get as much attention as it should have at the time, came from EA. Dead Space and Mirror’s Edge. They didn’t really sell as much as they had hoped. All publishers have to do is look back at 2008, and learn from EA with concern to their release dates. I think that’s what a lot of them are doing. It’s not necessarily all Activision’s fault for “scaring everyone off,” but more of a learning experience from years prior by all who plan to release their games into a sea of established titles. Not just Modern Warfare 2. EA has publicly discussed their release date mistakes in the past with GamesIndustry.biz: “EA: We’ve learned out lesson on release dates” and it’s about time others learned from them.

Here is the comment I posted on Jonathan’s article:

“More games getting pushed into 2010 the better in my opinion. Last year during the holiday was ridiculous with the amount of games released. Even if these delayed games were released holiday 09 as planned, we still wouldn’t get a chance to play them until 2010 anyway. We would be busy playing ODST, Modern Warfare 2 and Uncharted 2 etc. So many games, not enough time to play them.”

“I’m not a huge fan of Activision, but to blame them for making one hell of a game and marketing it properly, just doesn’t make sense. It’s a smart business decision for other publishers to delay most of their triple A games ’til 2010, Warfare 2 or not.”

“I agree, Activision has become the EA of old though.”

Jonathan made some other arguments to back up his theory, regarding the MW2 price increase in the U.K. but I won’t touch on that topic. He makes some decent points. Especially after hearing Activision is suing Double Fine to stop Brutal Legend from being released. Indeed, Activision needs to be careful they don’t alienate the huge fan base they have created over the years with Call of Duty, and the Guitar Hero franchises. Don’t get greedy now guys! But to imply that the reason the game industry is seeing a large amount of games being delayed into Q1 2010, (except for Halo 3: ODST, Assassin’s Creed II, Forza 3, Uncharted 2 and others), is specifically due to Activision’s must have title releasing at the same time, just doesn’t make sense to me. Indeed, publishers probably did take into account the mass popularity of MW2, but there has got to be other factors involved.

Publishers are changing tactics and I think they are looking at 2008 as a prime example. We, as gamers, should not expect the holiday season to be saturated with all these “must have titles” like it has been the case in years past. The economy has changed, publishers and developers have changed and well.. in the end, they’re running a business. So I think it’s a smart move on their part to delay their games, and spread out the release dates more evenly throughout the year. Whether Modern Warfare is released during Q4 of 2009 or not. But imagine this… imagine having 1 to 3 “must have titles” coming out each month throughout the year. How cool would that be? I’d much rather have that then for all of the big name games to be released in the same quarter. I just don’t have enough time to play them all. I can’t speak for you though, maybe you do?

Besides what I’ve written above, if Jonathan’s opinion is true, Activision’s Modern Warfare 2 is scaring everyone off into 2010, what does that say about those games being delayed? Doesn’t look like the developers and publishers are too confident in their games. Maybe the delay is a good thing? Lots of people get Christmas money and they’ll need to spend it on something right? I don’t know about you, but after spending money on gifts for my family and friends, the last thing I have is more money to buy games for myself before Christmas. I think it’s a smart move on the publishers part to delay some of these games until after Christmas. Spreading them throughout the year ever more would be the best case scenario. If it’s a good quality game, I will buy it no matter what time of year.

What say you? I’d love to hear what you have to say in the comments.

HALO 3: ODST GAMEPLAY TRAILER

I meant to post this last week but somewhere along the way, I lost my mind. But if you still have yours, then chances are you have already seen the new gameplay trailer for the “I can’t believe it’s coming so fast” September release of Halo 3: ODST. Woo hoo! It’s already August, can you believe it?! Another great video you should check out, if you haven’t already downloaded it for free on Xbox Live Marketplace, is the new ODST Vid Doc that Bungie creates before each game. Bungie has definitely figured out how to work this finely tuned hype machine. I love it!

From the gameplay video above, you can see things have definitely changed from the original Halo 3. It remains to be seen if these changes are for the better. Chances are, they are. In the end though, does it really matter? I mean, I’m going to buy it either way. However, there is one thing I noticed in here that really, really bothers me. It’s the same thing that pissed me off about Ghost Recon 2. The highlighting of characters. The colored outline of all your enemies and even friendlies. I just don’t get why developers need to do that. I understand what Bungie is going for with the new ODST HUD, and his “magical powers” of seeing things through his helmet.. but it turns me off. Hopefully we find out there is a bigger reason for why they implemented this change and I hope it’s a feature you can turn on and off if you don’t find it necessary to use during gameplay. That’s my only gripe about the changes so far. I can’t wait to get ahold of those new weapons though! Cheers my friends..