Do you have netflix, and want all the viewing pleasures of instant streaming but only have a Wii? Well, the discs for instant viewing on your Wii have been shipped out. They should be arriving soon if you ordered one.
Once you receive your disc, a plethora* of movies will be available to you without the high deffiness**.
Radical Dylan’s Movie Suggestions:
The Ugly Truth, Next, Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog, Doctor Who, Torchwood, Lost, The Matrix Trilogy.
MasterAbbott’s Movie Suggestions:
The Wiggles, VeggieTales, Thomas & Friends: It’s Great to be an Engine, Kipper: Kipper Helps Out, and you must not forget to watch Barbie’s Horse Adventures!
*Actual definition may not fit the use in the sentence, but it sounded fancy.
**Not an actual word.
Vertebrates respect other vertebrates. Invertebrates respect other invertebrates. But I’m not going to talk to an invertebrate, let alone respect one. That is happening with South Australian Attorney General John Rau as he has lost his spine. He has recently stated regarding an R18+ rating on video games in Australia that he “can neither support nor wisely argue against a position if I am not aware of the relevant factors.” Clearly he has no spine.
The worst part of this entire situation is that prior to his taking the position Rau’s response to making an R18+ rating was that it was “just common sense to introduce”. Somewhere between his campaigning to his taking the office he left his spine behind.
This week’s Deal of the Week could possibly remind you why the AI in the original Left 4 Dead was more fun then its sequel. If you haven’t already purchased the Crash Course DLC, now is a very good time to buy it and replay the first Left 4 Dead game. The DLC has been reduced from it’s normal price of 560MSP to 320MSP for this week only, and for Xbox Live gold members only. (This deal is not available everywhere)
Thoughts:
This is a very good deal for any Left 4 Dead fan. The only downside is that it only consists 2 levels. According to valve; however, this 2 level DLC is meant to be streamlined specifically for versus mode. 250 achievement points are also included in the DLC. For only 320MSP, it is a very hard deal to pass up.
XBLA Release
Final Fight Double Impact will come to Xbox Live Arcade on Wednesday April 14th for 800 Microsoft Points. Play as classic characters as you explore and fight the brutal Mad Gear gang in Final Fight. Also included in the package is the fantasy hack and slash game, Magic Sword.
Thoughts:
2 classic 2d side scrollers that consist of beating people up, or hacking and slashing. Either way the package should lead to hours of enjoyment to anyone who grew up playing the games in the arcade. The total comes to about 400MSP each, so it is a good bargain as well.
MasterAbbott sat down and interviewed John Raptis the director of Raptisoft Games. We ask John a variety of fantastic questions about Raptisoft and their newest title Solomons Keep! This is one of our best and most detailed interviews we’ve had in a very long time. Now we don’t have a picture of John but he wanted to let us know that he is married, and lives in Northern Michigan with his wife, two kids, three dogs, and two cats.
Now with all the formalities out of the way lets get down the buisness. Enjoy the interview 😉 Happy reading
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Question 1 – Tell us a little bit about Raptisoft. How were they created, the origin behind the name Raptisoft, when was it first established, and how many employees does it have today.
Well, Raptisoft is simply mylastname-soft. It probably wasn’t the wisest decision, since it’s not an easily remembered or spelled or pronounced name, but it was the only thing I felt “close” to. Some of the names I rejected were about as funny and catchy as a fish.
I started it up in 2001 to sell my game “Eggsucker.” There’s a bit of a history behind this; I originally wrote that game in 1997 for my wife (she enjoyed playing a similar game at an arcade in Ann Arbor, Michigan). I had spent so few skill points in “Business Thinking” at that point in my life that I wrote the game… then did nothing with it.
But in 2001 the tipping point happened: I got a mortgage. I am a bit of a fanatic about debt—I hate it with a passion. So I quickly rewrote Eggsucker, and set it up for sale on the web. I felt a bit guilty about it not being a completely original game idea, so I sold it as cheaply as the ecommerce provider would allow: $5.49. I was hoping to make $50-$100 a month to put on my mortgage.
Well, in its first month it did a little better than that, and I was pleased. Then in its second month, the floodgates opened! It doubled my monthly salary at my day job, and then continue to do that for a few months. Around the six-month point, Popcap games wrote me, offering to publish it. For some reason they had a problem with the name “Eggsucker” and it was renamed to “Dynomite.”
As for employees… it’s just me, and various consultants. I do all the coding, artwork, and sound effects, and I hire people to do music and voice work. Oh, and I should also mention my wife, who plays what I write and generally lets me know if something in the game is tripping her up or spoiling the fun.
Question 2 – What do you believe have been your greatest challenges designing games for the mobile phone market ? Especially games for the iPhone/iTouch and now iPAD.
Without question, it’s the memory space and video card speed, compared to working on PC. I’ve become used to having memory and speed to spare. Suddenly, on the iPod, you have to go back to all the 3D card tricks of the 90’s, like batching triangles and reducing your texture swaps, and you have to watch your memory usage. I don’t enjoy that much.
But it’s all made up for it by having a touchscreen. While I sometimes wish Apple made a gamepad-type cradle that you could seat the iPhone in, I’ve found through playing around that by using the accelerometer or touchscreen controls, you can come up with control schemes that actually change and improve gameplay.
For instance, in Solomon’s Keep… I don’t think I would have done the secondary skills or the levelup system the way I did if I wasn’t designing for a small screen that could be touched anywhere. But I was really happy with the way they turned out!
Question 3 – What do you believe is the main reason why the Raptisoft games are such a success ?
Heh, not every Raptisoft game is a success. My game Boonka (available at Sandlot Games) and my game Hap Hazard are enjoyed by tens of people worldwide. Boonka especially represents the most development time for the least love I’ve ever done in my life. J
But the ones that are successful… I think the only reason can be because I really *work* these games. I play them over and over. If something isn’t fun, out it goes, no matter how good of an idea it was. I think many programmers are loathe to do that because something was a lot of work to put in, and they’ll be damned if they’re taking it out. I know their pain… but I have this other pain that I experience when I leave something like that in. It’s the pain of my wife telling me, up to sixteen times a day, how she likes the game fine, except for this one little thing that keeps getting in her way.
And then, after all the playtesting and balancing, I am so used to the game, and I’ve gone through it so many times, I’m bored with it. I hate it. I play it, and I get gloomy, and I say, “nobody’s gonna want this.” So I start throwing in other things to try to spice it up. That’s how you get design decisions like “every single level is going to be completely different in Hamsterball” or “the final boss is going to torment you every step of the way” in Solomon’s Keep.
So I guess the one word answer to this question is “insecurity.” J
READ THE REST OF THE IS FANTASTIC INTERVIEW AFTER THE BREAK
This just in !! BIG BIG News: former Infinity Ward employees : Jason West and Vince Zampella of Call of Duty fame form Respawn Entertainment, sign publishing deal with EA !!
This is BIG BIG BIG NEWS !!! What are we going to expect from Jason and Vince. Only time will see but at least they have the backing power of EA behind them.. Exciting times ahead !!
We’ll have more news as we get it !!
For now here is the official website for Respawn Entertainment : http://www.respawn.com/ (its very simple don’t be alarmed. But you know what it has one very important link. Check it out and see for yourself)
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Read the Official Press Release below !!
LOS ANGELES, Apr 12, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Today, Jason West and Vince Zampella, creators of the multi-billion dollar Call of Duty(R) franchise, announced the formation of a new development studio — Respawn Entertainment. The move positions the Respawn Entertainment leadership team as the owners of the intellectual property they create. The company will focus on creating state-of-the-art gaming experiences for global audiences. The studio is currently assembling a world-class team of designers, artists and engineers. Applicants can submit resumes to [email protected].
Respawn is pleased to also announce that it has awarded Electronic Arts /quotes/comstock/15*!erts/quotes/nls/erts (ERTS19.48, +0.12, +0.62%) , through the distinguished EA Partners program, exclusive worldwide publishing and distribution rights to future games. Terms were not disclosed. West and Zampella are represented by Creative Artists Agency (CAA).
“Respawn Entertainment marks a fresh start for Jason and me,” said Vince Zampella, General Manager of Respawn Entertainment. “For the past decade we led a great development team and poured our hearts into creating an epic game franchise. We’re very proud of what we built — and proud that so many millions of fans enjoyed those games. Today we hope to do it all over again — open a new studio, hire a great team, and create brand new games with a new partner, EA.”
“We’re excited,” added Jason West, President of Respawn Entertainment. “Now that the team is in control of the games and brands, we can ensure that the fans are treated as well as they deserve.”
Frank Gibeau, President of the EA Games Label commented, “This is the start of a great publishing partnership — one that I expect will develop blockbuster game franchises. Jason and Vince are two of the top creative leaders in the entertainment industry. At EA, we’re honored to be their partners and to give them the support they need to hire a team and return to making incredible games.”
About Respawn Entertainment
Founded in 2010, Respawn Entertainment is an independent videogame development studio based in Encino, California. The studio was formed by Jason West and Vince Zampella, former co-founders of Infinity Ward and creators of the multi-billion dollar franchise Call of Duty(R). More information about the company will be available soon at www.respawn.com.
When it rains it pours .. We have another piece of Crysis information. Today EA has released a new trailer for Crysis 2 and looks like New York is at the heart of the invasion. Frank Sinatra would be proud with the musical rendition in the background.
Crysis will be coming soon in the Holiday season of 2010 on the following platforms Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC.
Well, it is Sunday here in the United States, and I have another analytical article for you guys. I say analytical, because these are based heavily in my analysis or the analysis of a group which I then in turn analyze in further depth. Some of you may find them interesting, while others of you don’t really care. Either way, everything you are about to read is based on analysis, true stories, opinion and a bit of fact.
Games can’t stay original forever, so developers take ideas, improve on them, and claim them as their own. I’ve noticed this happening a lot recently so I decided to make it into a Sunday analytical. Below is an analytical starting on the concept of how original a game truly is and moves towards how originality and the game industry shall continue.
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Game Originality
How much can a game borrow from another game before it is no longer original? Many games are out there, so many that it is extremely difficult to keep every concept of your game original. Just by creating an FPS or RPG you are taking a previous idea and using it for your own game. These two examples are genres now, but at one point they were an original idea created by a game developer for the first time. As time moves on, it becomes increasingly hard to stick with your own ideas. So what developers do, is they take the control scheme or main idea of one type of game and put it within their own. A problem occurs when they do this, anyone who has played the other game or heard of it will say that the idea is stolen. To combat this, a developer must add on to the idea to make it better and attempt to make it their own. This cycle is continued with all game concepts with very few original ideas actually popping up.
Over the years games have fallen into certain genres and the only thing that keeps a game unique is the gameplay mechanics and the story. Each genre has a specific general gameplay and developers add on to the general gameplay with their own ideas to make their game their own. A game is instantly put in a certain genre. For example, a game is put into the FPS genre just because it is a first person shooter. The only thing that gets a person to buy another FPS game is either a sequel or a new gameplay mechanic that is added into another game of that genre. Even the additions get taken eventually and put into other developer’s games. The control scheme that became famous for FPS games from Call of Duty has been taken as the control scheme for other FPS games as well, such as Borderlands and F.E.A.R.
As more games are created and gameplay mechanics get perfected the only thing to set games apart is the story. Even the story eventually runs thin and that’s when remakes are created. Recently a lot of classic games have been brought back to life, and this is an easy way to make money off of something that was already created. Instead of reusing the same gameplay mechanics and putting some half baked story along with it, developers are able to rerelease a game that came out a long time ago and it will be bought because it has fallen into a new genre. Perfect Dark is no longer just an FPS it is now a classic. Mega Man is no longer a just platformer it is now a retro game.
There is no problem rereleasing an old game as new. It all depends on how it is done. Perfect Dark for example, was given better graphics, extra medals, more unlockables, and online multiplayer. By buying the remake of Perfect Dark you are buying back the memories that you had within the game as well as the possibility for new memories. There is also the wrong way to rerelease games, as seen in the Game Room for the Xbox 360. I’m not saying there is anything wrong with buying these games; some of them are flat out fun. Everyone has a classic game that they love and some people want to easily access these games, but in the case of the Game Room they quite literally are the exact same game which was released way back when. This bold move reduces the actual audience the game is for. I don’t know what Microsoft saw in the Game Room, but they severely limited their audience. As I see it, only two types of people will buy any of those classic games. The first group are those that grew up with the games, this group has tons of memories put in them and want to relive those memories. The second group are those that are basic gamers who have the money and want to play a game in the Game Room that catches their fancy. The reason these games aren’t purchased as much as another rerelease is because nothing new is added. Sure the games have the Game Room interface, but without anything new added onto the release they aren’t able to sell as well. The reason is simply because the exact game is already out there, and anyone who does a little digging will be able to find it for free.
Can games remain in this permanent loop of old titles coming back as new? Every new breakthrough in gaming leads to a new type of games. It all started with games that only used buttons, to the games that using directional pads, to the games with 1 joystick, to the games with dual joysticks. Every new technological breakthrough enables new gameplay mechanics which bring a new era of gaming. But developers will always want more money and will recreate their old games in this new format. Eventually we will be able to play Perfect Dark or Mega Man in a virtual setting where we are within the game.
Originality only lasts so long and when it runs out new gameplay mechanics have to be implemented. Even new gameplay mechanics will run out soon. What happens when we have reached our limit? What else is there to add when we are actually within the game? It is true that the game industry is growing, but there is a limit for everything. Eventually they will be remaking Modern Warfare 2 and it will become a classic; but you will be inside of the game playing online with your friends and actually be able to interact with them. On a side note, that actually sounds like fun! I can see people creating some very interesting games with that technology. Imagine a chat room where you can play D&D with people across continents! Natal is supposedly able to scan objects into a game; a skateboard was used as an example in one of its videos. What if instead you could scan items in, or download anything from a vast databank online; such as a monopoly board, or a movie which you watch in a virtual movie theater? The possibilities of what to do could be endless, and originality would only be limited to what is inside your head. Sadly, we are a long way from that.
Yes that’s right… there seems to be secret some Lab work happening in the research facilities over at Microsoft Game Studios. Just today we received this mysterious link with not too much information. But we all have a very big hunch that it smells like a NATAL Project of some sort.
I like the part at the bottom half of the enrollment form that asks for 10 things that describe your personality !!
MasterAbbott had 100 but had to settle for the 10 best ones he could muster up 😉 .. (one of them was CUTE… )
Well if you live in Australia then click on the image below and fill this out ASAP !! if you wanna be a part of this secret lab experiment which will have you jumping around swinging your hands like a crazy person and having the best time in the world all in the name of research then don’t delay … MICROSOFT NEEDS YOU TODAY !!!
This is MasterAbbott’s Application .. He hopes he makes it in !! 😉
Everything within the video games market is based on schedule. Games must be developed within a certain time window. They then put it up for a scheduled sale which falls on a day that makes sure their sales will be maxed. All announcements are also scheduled way in advance and fall into place on schedule.
The only problem with everything being scheduled is when the schedule changes it is extremely hard to make sure the news doesn’t get out. This is what happened with the dashboard leak of Gears of War 3. When Cliff Bleszinski got bumped on Jimmy Fallon for that pop singer kid that sounds like a girl (You know who I’m talking about). Cliff planned to announce the Gears of War 3 news on that show, and the Xbox Dashboard would follow suit. Plans change and the Xbox Dashboard kept following the schedule. The news was quickly removed and will most likely be put back when the actual announcement takes place.
Overview:
Here we have the original Final Fantasy. The finale of all fantasy games as we know it… until they made twelve more over the next 23 years. This is the game that started it all, from FFI to FFXIII many have been quite stellar in every aspect, while a small few remain famous from the Final Fantasy namesake alone. Which category does Final Fantasy I stand in? We shall see my light warriors.
Story:
FF1 is set in a world with three large continents. Over the years the world has grown harsher; the lands are dieing, the oceans are turning savage. The world is governed by four mystic orbs, each one representing a specific element of either fire, water, wind, or earth. Yet these four orbs have grown dark and lost their mystic power causing an imbalance in the world. Four brave Light Warriors, each holding one of the darkened orbs have appeared and must journey to correct what damage has been wrought upon the world.
The story itself is quite basic, however it is hardly fair to declare this a detriment to the game due to the fact that this was one of the first RPGs made for consoles and pretty much defined this type of storyline. The storyline itself is driven through speaking to certain NPCs in towns and then gathering information about where you must go to defeat the evil in the area. However most of the time the NPCs that you speak to will only repeat the exact same thing the last NPC said, but with slightly different wording. There are large amounts of dungeons to traverse to defeat said enemies, however there are only a few side-quests but thanks to the addition of five new dungeons, there are many side dungeons that were not available when the game was first released.
Gameplay:
Final Fantasy I was the epitome of turn based combat in RPGs. Your party members stare dead into the eyes of the monsters that have attacked them. There is the standard affair of surprise attacks on both sides. Occasionally you will be ambushed by monsters and will be assaulted. Then randomly your party will gain initiative from an ambush and the tables will be turned. However more often than not there will be your standard battle and there will be many, many, many battles.
There are an extremely large amounts of random battles to say the least. You may be able to walk ten steps at a time and then encounter enemies, while other times you may begin fighting within four steps. Though this was the standard for RPGs in the past and any retro gamer will know what to expect when they purchase the game. However if you are new to Final Fantasy then be prepared for many battles which have grown only more slow paced due to the iPhone/iTouch user interface.
During battle all actions are controlled via the attack, magic, defend, item, equipment, escape buttons on the bottom of the screen next to your characters’ names. After selecting an action such as Attack, you have to also double tap the exact enemy that you wish to attack. This is all fine and good for longer battles and battles of your current level. However when you face enemies that are far below your level and are quite weak, it is faster to just run away then to waste your time tapping attack, tapping which enemy to attack, and then repeating four times at once.
The touch screen controls themselves however are very responsive. When traversing any map the directional pad which appears in the bottom left corner of the screen works the same as any real life d-pad would. However there is a small problem when it comes to talking to npcs, as the action button sometimes requires multiple presses to activate, as well as access the main menu.
The NPCs also pose a small problem due to the fact that some cities have one square paths that sometimes an NPC will wander into this tight corridor and force you to wait until they have moved away. The worst case scenario was once two different NPCs were able to block my character in and force me to wait for three minutes for one to move just far enough out of the way to leave. This could have been easily resolved however if they allowed certain NPCs to be passable.
Graphics:
Out of everything that has been said about the game the strongest aspect is Final Fantasy I’s revamped graphics. Though the graphics are a direct copy from the PSP version of the game released back in 2007, it shares some extremely well drawn characters and monsters.
Character motion is fluid and each dungeon’s atmosphere is superb. Every inch of Final Fantasy I’s original graphics have been rebuilt from the ground up. Though the characters have had extreme face-lifts in terms of drawing, they are both easily recognizable and better than they were before. During battle is where the graphics truly shine as a full graphic presentation of each character and monster is visible. Magic spells of both White and Black magic have been completely redesigned and match their namesakes; lightning summoning devastating lightning bolts and protect forming a glowing barrier around whichever ally received said buff.
However outside of battle the world map itself contains aged visuals and in some situations brings the question as to what year the game itself was released. Not only this but some village design is unfortunately extremely poor. An unlucky player may find him/herself completely blocked into a city walkway by two NPCs that have wandered into the walkway. Ordinarily this would not be an issue, however in many cities there exists a few paths which contain only one walkable tile. With the NPC standing on this tile, there is unfortunately no way to move past them.
This could easily be remedied however in a patch that allows the pushing of various NPCs if they are walked into for a long enough period of time. Or the incorporation of a system wherein if the NPC is pressed for a long enough period of time the character itself will walk through said NPC and freedom.
Overall:
Final Fantasy I is a great example of how RPGs used to be established in the years past. However there is a reason for restructuring and adjusted gameplay. But this title stands as one of the best retro RPG games available on the market today. Final Fantasy I for the iPhone/iTouch is a repackaging of the PSP remake, they have included a few extra dungeons, five to be exact. The Soul of Chaos pack and The Labyrinth of Time are the dungeons that have been added, which greatly extends the length of play. FFI does have some issues such as an extremely thin storyline and the ability to do quick battling would be a major improvement considering all the random battles which you will have happen to you.
