Despite financial woes earlier in the year, GAME seems to have recovered enough to become the retail sponsor of 2012’s Eurogamer Expo, the UK’s biggest gaming festival.
The Eurogamer Expo will be returning to London’s Earls Court from 27th-30th September 2012 and is expected to welcome over 50,000 gamers. It promises more playable games than ever (including a large number of UK first-plays), a high-profile developer session schedule, as well as a number of satellite events including the Games Industry Fair.
GAME will sell games at the show and offer special deals organised with leading publishers who are exhibiting during the Expo.
In a report written by market research firm Niko Partners, the Chinese gaming market may be geared towards the mobile space rather than the PC space. The report suggests that the number of mobile players will soon exceed the number of PC players. The number of players on mobiles, according to the China’s Mobile Games Market 2012 report, will reach an estimated 192 million this year. The number of PC players will be around an estimated 180 million this year.
In terms of revenue, Niko Partners believes that the revenue stream for mobile gaming will increase six-fold from 2011. In 2011, revenue reached $600 million. In five years time, Niko Partners predict that mobile revenue will reach $3.6 billion. Niko Partners managing partner Lisa Cosmas Hanson explains the explosive mobile market in China:
“Mobile games and web-browser games are the two buzzword segments in China’s games market this year, and Chinese game companies are racing to deliver their games on multiple platforms to satisfy gamer demand in every way possible.”
The Parrot Zik Headphones are a pair of headphones from the company Parrot, which is based in France. The headphones themselves are a pair of noise-cancelling, wireless headphones that have some interesting gestures that give access to various functions on the device. They also offer smart-phone linking functionality to adjust the headphones settings, which is done wirelessly through bluetooth protocols. I will go into these functions and more in detail further below.
The first thing I want to talk about with the headphones is the wireless integration with smartphones. People may notice this as a feature that is similar to the one found in the Parrot A.R Drone device in that you can download an App for your iOS or Android devices to add additional functionality to the headphones. The headphones themselves are nearly fully customisable, audibly, by using the App to alter various functions of the headphones. For example, you can modify the audio’s position with the concert hall feature. Basically what this does is it allows you to change the angle that the music is coming from in a virtual space. This creates a much more natural sound, like you’re listening to a live concert or something. There are also a slough of other features on the app, but most of it is standard fair, like equaliser settings and the like.
I have to admit that going into the concert hall feature, I was a little skeptical about it. I mean, the ability to position virtual speakers sounds a little weird. Heck, it sounded awkward even when the ability was explained to us by Parrot. However, once you actually used the function, it definitely increased the experience by a fair amount. However, if you do not pair your phone with your headphones via bluetooth, you will not be able to access this feature or many others available in the app.
The second feature I want to talk about is the devices noise-cancellation technology. Now I’m sure a lot of us here have experience with these kinds of devices and know that they don’t generally work as well as they could, so as you can tell I was very wary of this noise cancellation and especially the way that it was being explained to us. Basically what the devices does is it uses microphones to detect external audio and then compare it to what you’re meant to be hearing and then it does voodoo magic and the noise cancelling works. Now, I’m not one for voodoo, so I had to try this out for myself. And try it out I did.
The noise cancellation, I found, worked incredibly well. Whilst I was listening to music I had one of the ladies from Parrot try to ask me something and I could not hear a word she was saying. What is this sorcery? I’m not an audio engineer so I have no idea on how it works technically, or how the device is able to hear sounds before my own ear does and then replace it with silence. This is probably my most favourite part of the headphone.
The third and most important aspect of these headphones, I believe, is the user interface on the headphones themselves. Basically, what a user must do to access various functions on the headphones is to use certain swipe gestures on the earpiece. For instance, running your finger downwards on the headphones will turn the volume up and conversely, running your finger up the side of the headphone will turn the volume up. When your headphones are paired with your smart phone, you also gain access to other functions, such as skipping to the next song by flicking your finger forward on the earphone. I quite liked this gesture based system, but I am a little wary of how it would utilised in a tight space, like on a train where it is packed to the brim with people and even moving your arm is a hassle.
Overall I quite liked the Parrot Zik headphones and am quite interested in seeing how the shape up in the market. The headphones will be retailing at around $499.99 and will be coming to Australian stores in August. Be sure to keep an eye out for these unique headphones.
There was a Fate/Zero convention in China this past week. For some strange reason, MasterAbbott ended up there. It was an awkward few hours for all involved. Also there was some huge news on the anime front this week with anime adaptations of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and Sailor Moon announced. Oh and we did a whole bunch of reviews that you should read. So what are you waiting for? HOHOHO!
Overview:
Even though there is a brand new handheld gaming device circulating the market now from Sony, that new device is almost devoid of a certain genre of game. This missing genre is beloved by a large group of gamers but thankfully the PSP is still receiving plenty of love from developers and publishers behind this genre.
The RPG genre is one that has seen much success on portable handhelds and XSEED Games isn’t about to let the PSP go without at least one more RPG to round out the platform’s library. Now that they have released Unchained Blades onto the PlayStation Network, is it worth your time?
Story:
The world of Unchained Blades is populated by mythical beings and creatures of fantasy and all of these creatures are ruled by a Goddess. However there is a special journey that these creatures can take to meet with the Goddess and be granted any wish they want. Players will take the roll of the most powerful dragon in the land, Fang (all character names can be changed by the player however.)
With his massive strength he was able to fly right to the Goddess and rather than have her grant a wish, he simply demanded that she tell him where the strongest enemy in the world is. As one may expect, this greatly displeases the Goddess, who then curses him by removing all of his dragon powers and sending him crashing to Earth. Here Fang learns about the proper way to reach the Goddess and sets out on a Journey to regain his abilities and obtain his revenge.
Along the way players will come across a number of other allies who all have their own wish to make and join up with Fang in his journey. While the storyline itself is far from original, the characters themselves help make up for the mundane plot. One of the things that makes these characters special is the fact that they two are monsters, such as a golem prince, phoenix girl or medusa.
These characters’ interactions with one another are quite amusing and will help keep the story enjoyable, especially when certain characters start to show interest in one another or reveal some hidden sides to their personalities.
Visuals:
Now one thing that makes Unchained Blades unique is the fact that all of the main characters were actually drawn by different artists. This means that you will see a lot of variety with the character’s basic designs, though they all follow an anime-styled fantasy theme. These individual artists have done a great job with the main characters as they are one of the treats of playing Unchained Blades. In fact, nearly all of the characters you come across, both enemy and NPC are beautifully designed.
Unfortunately the same can not be said about the actual dungeons you explore. Considering players will be spending a large amount of their time traversing the halls of these dungeons, it would have been better if they were at least a little bit more diverse. Now while each dungeon does follow a certain theme, nearly every single hallway inside the dungeon will look the same as the last, meaning players will often spend hours walking through a repetitive environment with only a few changes here and there.
Audio:
The title features some nice background music that helps accentuate the mood of battle or exploring various dungeons. As for the game’s sound effects, they are serviceable at best. Thankfully Unchained Blades does feature voice work for the main cast, though it is worth noting that not every piece of dialogue between the characters is voiced. When the characters do speak with one another their voice actors perform an adequate enough job portraying each characters’ emotions and personalities.
Gameplay: While Unchained Blades may be classified as an RPG, it is a bit of an unconventional title to say the least. The reason for this being the fact that players will actually be dungeon-crawling through a first person view similar to what was experienced in the classic title Wizardry. This means that as players are advancing through the dungeon they will not see their characters moving, but will instead be walking through an area as if they themselves were there.
Interestingly enough, combat is also fought in this same first person style. Players will experience random encounters while walking through a dungeon and face off against a number of opponents which can range from only one monster, to fifteen at a time. These large scale battles can sometimes mean up to three screens full of enemies to defeat, making this turn based battle system a fight for your party’s life.
Now at any given time, players can have a party of up to four main characters which are called “Masters” in the game. These masters possess a special ability which helps spice up the combat and also references the titles name, the Unchain ability. When you are battling against enemies, there is a chance that they will become influenced by one of the masters’ charisma or sufficiently wounded enough the player can unchain them through a simple mini-game, allowing the creature to join the party as a follower. It is a bit disconcerting however that there are many occasions an unchain circle will appear in the middle of your party’s attack turn, meaning some enemies which can be swayed to your side are often killed before you get a chance to unchain them.
Each master can have up to four followers added to each master, meaning that players can actually enter combat with up to twenty members at a time, though followers usually only serve as a method of blocking attacks at random, tacking damage at random or doing extra damage for linked skills. These followers also will have certain “anima” (elements) which can be applied to the Master, allowing them to perform special skills, meaning players will have to micromanage which followers are best for each character given the situation they are facing.
As players battle, their masters will level up as in any standard RPG, and players will also be given a few skill points which can then be applied to a branching upgrade tree which can boost various statistics as well as unlock new attack, upgrade and passive skills. As mentioned before, players will also have to worry about their charisma statistic as well, which levels up separately from their base character level. Performing well in a battle, such as finishing fast, using special attacks or taking little damage will result in boosted charisma while things such as running away, using healing items and other things will drop your charisma level.
Your charisma level affects how many followers you can have, the happiness of said followers as well as improve your chances of instantly allowing unchaining of enemies. This statistic is also affected by answering questions asked by your followers, though a large number of these questions have strange reactions which don’t make sense more often than not.
Managing the mood of your followers as well as switching them out for leveling purposes is almost essential for progressing through the game however, as there are a few moments players may be barred from advancing without competing in something called “Judgment Battles.” These battles are, to put it bluntly, very annoying and can also be a reason for heavy player grinding as they are fought by your actual followers instead of your main characters. In these battles players will simply press various quick time buttons as they scroll past while their followers mash up against the enemy’s followers in comically bad fashion.
These battles tend to be optional, though when necessary they are a drain on players’ time inside the game, as they will need to try to unchain powerful followers which is always an iffy gamble or try to level up weaker followers in their party by grinding further. This is a bit of a hassle already, as often players will encounter difficulty spikes in the levels of enemies they are fighting, requiring the player to return to a previous area and grind for experience points and money to survive the next floor.
It is worth noting that, despite these difficulty spikes, players will usually be able to venture forth without much concern for their well-being thanks to Unchained Blades’ save system. Rather than forcing players to only save in town or at certain points in the dungeon, players can instead save anywhere in a dungeon they please, making risky ventures lose their edge.
Overall: Unchained Blades takes a bit of a risk being released on the PlayStation Portable a bit late in its life and unfortunately the title does suffer from a few issues such as repetitive dungeons, excessive grinding and slightly questionable follower system. However despite these issues, those eager to pick up a long, engrossing RPG that holds true to a number of old-school mechanics while throwing in new ones to keep things interesting need look no further as Unchained Blades provides a slightly unconventional storyline alongside enjoyable gameplay.
During E3, a lot of fans went in thinking we would see a new Metroid game revealed for the Wii U. Yes, Other M wasn’t a huge success, but people still love Samus and it’s easy to see that the franchise would be perfect for Nintendo’s upcoming platform.
It seems that fans are not the only ones with Samus on the brain though, as Miyamoto recently made a statement to IGN on how Metroid would be perfect for the Wii U.
“With Metroid it’s very easy to imagine some interesting implementation for Wii U,” Miyamoto mentioned. “I think that having another screen with the gyro built in really gives you a lot of interesting opportunities for development, and we can bring a lot of our games to life in a completely unique way with that.”
Another name mentioned during the interview was Star Fox for the Wii U, but no further details were given. I personally would love to see Metroid on the Wii U and there isn’t much of a doubt that if done right, it would be a huge seller for Nintendo. Of course, these are just name drops as of now, meaning if a Metroid game were to come, it would be at least a couple years away (unless Ninty already has it in the oven).
David Cage, the boss of Quantic Dream, has theorised that, without the drive for innovation in video game projects, the industry will more or less die in an interview with Gamesindustry International. He believes that more studios should invest in new and inventive projects where originality can be promoted. He expands upon this point:
“I mean this industry will die if it doesn’t try more to be innovative and to come up with new ideas and to talk a bit more–not necessarily serious, but deeper things at some point. It’s great that you can shoot at monsters, and that’s great and it will always be there and it will always be successful, but at the same time, what about giving the choice to people? Give them different options. So if they like that they find it, but if they want something deeper and interactive, they can find that too.”
In the interview, Cage praises Journey from thatgamecompany, which is currently the most successful game on the Playstation Network, calling it “a breath of fresh air.” He calls it as such because of the storytelling and emotion found in the game. He moves on to first person shooters, which represents the exact opposite of Cage’s ideal video game industry. He says:
“How many first person shooters can we create per year? How many can we play per year? How many of them will be successful? Even from a business point of view, does it make any sense? I’m not sure.”
Considering he is the boss of the studio that gave us Heavy Rain and will give us Beyond: Two Souls, it is reasonable for him to address these concerns. With that said, the video game industry is dictated by one group of people: the consumers (yes, you reading this article). It is they who vote with their money and it seems that the most popular genre at this time is first person shooters, more specifically Call of Duty.
I agree with Mr. Cage in that the industry needs to push more original ideas and experiment. I am someone who believes that the video game medium does have the potential to become as powerful as literature in terms of storytelling. In saying that, it seems game studios and publishers won’t push for innovation if the risk is too great. It is definitely a worthy point in the business vs creative debate in video games.
I’ll open the floor to you, readers. Do you believe in Mr. Cage’s push for innovation or is the safe option good enough to keep the industry afloat? Give us your thoughts below.
There are reports that suggest that the newly created Activision Leeds will now take care of all mobile and handheld Call of Duty games. This claim was suggested by UK games industry expert Andy Payne, who comments that Leeds will be solely responsible for “all handheld versions [and] iOS versions of Call of Duty” in the future. This will not include Call of Duty: Black Ops: Declassified for the Playstation Vita, which is due out by the end of this year. Activision Leeds was only created in May. This means that, if it were Activision Leeds working on the Vita game, there would be only a maximum of seven months before release, too short for developing and publishing the game.
Payne also notes that the Leeds studio will have access to all Call of Duty assets. This is because the studios who have worked on the series are very collaborative. This means assets can be reused and exchanged if needed. Payne comments again, “The two studios are saying, ‘I need a tank, pull it off from the library’. And those assets are also going to be starting to be used by the mobile team, which is going to be based in Leeds.” The handheld Call of Duty games were previously developed by n-space, while iOS Call of Duty games were developed by Ideaworks.
Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale’s appearance at EVO 2012 in Las Vegas included a Q&A session with those in attendance. As expected, one member of the public, who happened to be a fan of the Super Smash Brothers franchise, blurted out the following three questions: why is the game a Super Smash Brothers rip-off, why doesn’t play like Super Smash Brothers and why is the only way to obtain a kill is through a super attack. Keep in mind that the person in question had only played ten minutes of the game before asking those three questions.
Omar Kendal, director of Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale, responded with the following comments:
PlayStation All Stars is its own game. I think that’s really the only way I can answer that. I understand that Smash players – some Smash players, not all Smash players do this – will sort of base how successful PlayStation All Stars as a game is on how accurately it recreates the Smash Brother’s experience. But that’s not really our goal.
Our goal is to create a unique combat experience for PlayStation All Stars that we fully admit borrows from many different kinds of games including Smash, but our goal is not solely replicate the Smash Brother’s experience.
I think based on ten minutes… maybe if you played it ten more minutes you’d have a different appreciation for the game. I just really would ask that players like you, approach it with an open mind.
He then offered the person a session with him so that he could show “what a folly it is to think that supers are the only things that matters in our video game.” Whether the person accepted the offer is unknown. While it is going to be common to compare Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale with Super Smash Brothers, it should be noted that there are differences as well. Besides, there is a market to see Playstation’s iconic characters duking it out with each other, as there is a market to see other universes coming together and seeing who will be the strongest character out there.
Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale will be released on October 23 in North America, October 24 in Europe, October 25 in Australia and New Zealand and October 26 in the UK and Ireland.
Heroes Of Ruin Publisher:Square Enix Developer:n-Space Platforms: Nintendo 3DS Release Date: June 15, 2012 Price: $39.99 – Available Here
Overview:
A good idea can only get you so far. Execution is what makes a good idea a great idea. Heroes of Ruin is a good idea, without a doubt. The concept of a heavily online focused RPG for the Nintendo 3DS in theory could make for an awesome game. But in practice does it work as well as it promises? Well that is the thing with Heroes of Ruin, it doesn’t. Heroes of Ruin is a good idea, that never became a great idea and it’s all due to the execution.
Story:
At it’s core Heroes of Ruin is a pretty simple RPG game. There is a world in peril and you are tasked with saving it. That is the plot of Heroes of Ruin in its most simplified form. There is of course a world here with various inhabitants that you will interact with, none of which are particularly memorable. The story in and of itself is essentially non-existent, with next to no narrative thrust and characterisation comparable to that of plank of wood in my backyard. The world is never fully realised and there are no characters that leave any lasting impression beyond you wanting them to shut the hell up. Top to bottom, Heroes of Ruin’s plot elements are as flat as fizzled out Coca Cola. Unfortunately, this is just the beginning of this game’s problems.
Gameplay:
The crux of Heroes of Ruin has to be it’s gameplay. With a story and cast of characters so utterly asinine, the gameplay has a lot to compensate for. It is a crying shame that it falls short in this regard.
Now don’t get me wrong, there is some good here. The online mode albeit problem riddled does have some interesting components that does make for a somewhat compelling gaming experience. But only when it works. How often does it work the way it is intended? About 20% of the time I’d say. But before I go too in depth about the online component, I need to outline how exactly this game works and emphasise one thing – this game is one big hassle.
Immediately upon starting up the game for the first time, the game forces you into creating a ‘Square Enix Account’. Okay fair enough, it makes sense since you know this game is focused heavily on it’s online function. This wouldn’t be a problem, except the fact that it literally does not let you do anything until you make this bloody account. So bad luck if you do not have a computer accessible at the time, you can’t play until you make an account for Square Enix. So essentially the game directs you to Square Enix’s Heroes of Ruin website. Once you are there you set up your account and confirm it with your email. After that you log in to your Square Enix account on the Heroes of Ruin website and grab your 3DS again and scan your exclusive access QR Code, which allows you to link your Square Enix account to your 3DS thus allowing you to play the freaking game. Only one problem, the QR scanner has trouble scanning some types of monitors so if it doesn’t read your monitor, you’d want to hope you have a printer handy to print out the page to scan the QR Code so you can play this bloody game. Like I said, this game is one big hassle.
So after nearly half an hour trying to link my 3DS to my ‘Square Enix Account’ I got to design my character. The character design system is pretty limited and there isn’t much you do to differentiate your character or have any real semblance of individuality, but that’s not too great a problem. Once you have made your character you are ready to go right? Nope.
Next obstacle in the way is navigated the absolutely atrocious menu screen, which provides little to no easy way to do what you want to do, instead over complicating things with confusing control schemes for menus (the thumb stick cannot be used to navigate, only the directional pad or stylus) and poorly worded titles for each mode (hardly defines the difference between joining another persons game and creating your own). After eventually navigating and figuring things out you can either choose to play online or offline. It is here where things fall apart completely.
First of all the single player (offline) mode is just a pain. It is incredibly clear that this game was not built with single player in mind at all, especially when you consider the difficulty of some creatures which just can not be beaten alone and some puzzles that are damn near impossible without a partner. So the single player mode really was not what this game was made for, hence why it is the last option on the menu. The online multiplayer is what it’s all about I suppose. Sadly this is really hit and miss.
When playing multiplayer there is no option whatsoever to choose to play with someone with a good connection with you or someone who is close by geographically, instead you will find yourself paired with players on the other side of the planet to you which ends up resulting in complete and utter lag. As I mentioned earlier, there is pretty much a 20% chance that this won’t happen.
The game itself is simply a pretty substandard Diablo clone and it feels pretty obvious that it was made with the hook of ‘Diablo but on a handheld!’ This wasn’t a bad idea, just an incredibly poorly executed one.
It’s really a huge disappointment because despite these overwhelming problems there is some flashes of brilliance in Heroes of Ruin, glimmering instances where you could believe, even if it were a fleeting belief, that this could have been a great game. This is a game that really could have done with an extra year in development, to add some polish and shine to it. But in the end, money speaks louder than sense once again.
Visuals and Audio:
The disappointment doesn’t end there though, even the game’s aesthetics are significantly lacking in quality. The visuals are as pedestrian as possible and never aspire to be anything more than that. There is no flair to speak of and it all feels like something that any gamer would have seen hundreds of times before. The soundtrack is equally benign with to colour to it’s tracks. Not only that, but the game’s voice acting is utterly appalling. It has to be some of the worst I have seen in a very long time. But that pales in comparison to the soundtrack, which has so felt presence what so ever. It’s as routine as you could possibly imagine and never does anything to warrant an ounce of praise.
Overall:
When the best thing you can say about a game is that is a clone, then there is something seriously wrong. Heroes of Ruin is a perfect example of a good idea poorly executed. It has all the hallmarks of what could have been a great game, but for one reason or another this game was rushed out and ultimately feels half baked. It needed more time in the oven, but it is too late now. What’s done is done and as sad as it is to see potential go to waste, it quite often does. Ultimately Heroes of Ruin is a Diablo 3 clone for the 3DS, with just as many problems and it all falls to ruin under the weight of it’s poor execution. It’s a damn shame to see a good idea like this go to waste, a damn shame.
