Nintendo alienating consumers with supply mismanagement

By Tiberius Jonez

Before Nintendo launched the Wii they promised the console would expand the videogame market to previously untapped consumers with an easy, low-stress, user-friendly experience. Fast forward nearly two years later and the Wii experience is anything but stress-free. Angry consumers are being confronted by “sold out” signs at retailers instead of Wii Fit and Mario Kart games.

Nintendo’s hardware and software supply problems following the Wii’s launch have persisted for so long that what was once perceived as the result of unexpected success is now being recognized as an inexcusable mismanagement of the companies supply chain.

Rob Fahey of gamesindustry.biz has written a fairly scathing, but accurate, editorial about Nintendo’s negligence toward their newly found consumers. Essentially telling Nintendo if they want to be the market leader then they need to stop acting “like an overgrown cottage industry” and more like “the vast globe-spanning corporation it has grown to become.”

I have to whole-heartedly agree with him. Nintendo has a long history of inflexibility and straight-up hubris that once cost them the huge hardware advantage they held with the NES and Super Nintendo before the birth of the original Sony PlayStation. From inflexible licensing agreements to unwillingness to adapt to their own growth, Nintendo has repeatedly demonstrated a disregard for the very customers they are so proud of having garnered.

At some point the demand Nintendo thinks they are creating by holding back hardware becomes a backlash against their product with the end result being money left on the table that could have gone into the corporate coffers.

Prince of Persia “Elika” is Natalie Portman

By Tiberius Jonez

When I saw the concept art for the new Prince of Persia game I kept thinking the new character Elika looked familiar but I just couldn’t place her. The guys over at joystiq nailed it though. Elika is a dead ringer for Natalie Portman. Whether Portman is directly involved with the project in anyway remains unconfirmed, but there is no doubting the resemblance is more than a little uncanny. Here’s to hoping if she does any voice work in the game that we get the dynamic actress from The Professional and not the wooden placeholder from the Star Wars prequels. Good eye fellas.

Is the end near for single player games?

By Tiberius Jonez

Zelda, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid, Grand Theft Auto and Splinter Cell are all triple-A gaming franchises and all were originally single player only experiences. However, with the exception of Zelda, all these franchises latest iterations feature some form of online multiplayer component. With the big three consoles all featuring online connectivity in varying degrees, it is clear that the future, and in many instances the present, of videogames is online. At some point in the very near future – possibly by the end of this year – completely offline single player games will be extremely rare or even nonexistent.

With development budgets exceeding the $100Mil mark (GTA IV), it’s becoming increasingly difficult for publishers to green-light projects that don’t feature any kind of online revenue streams like downloadable content or multiplayer advertising. Considering only 10-15% of gamers ever finish an entire single player game, the current system of game production and sales is a kind of economic insanity on the part of both developers and consumers. Gamers pay $60 for content they never fully experience and developers spend millions passionately creating content that goes largely unseen.

Gamers wonder why their games have been drastically shortened in the past five years. Five years ago, if a game wasn’t 30-40 hours in length it was considered to be a short game and difficult to justify at $50. Now games are $60 yet most developers are shooting for a much shorter 10-15 hour experience, and why not? Why would a developer want to create a 20-30 hour experience if 85-90% of their consumer base will only ever see the first two-thirds of it? It makes more sense for them to save both money and time by creating a shorter experience that more players might actually complete.

Alone in the Dark, the latest game from publisher Atari is taking a new approach to getting more gamers to see the end of their game by breaking it into chapters and allowing players to have access to every chapter from the get-go. If you get stuck or frustrated somewhere, simply skip to the next chapter and keep going. And don’t worry about missing any important story bits because every chapter is preceded by a “Previously on Alone in the Dark” recap.

This sort of approach or something similar is likely to become more popular with other developers in the future. The next step is chapter by chapter delivery. Instead of buying the entire game for $60, you may pay $5-$10 for a chapter and buy as much or as little of the “entire” experience as you like.

In a recent interview with videogaming247, Atari head Phil Harrison said Eden games, the developer on Alone in the Dark, originally intended to deliver the game episodically when they began work on it four years ago but due to technical and commercial reasons, decided not to go that route with the final product. Still, when you consider the present direction of the industry as a whole, Eden’s thinking was quite prescient four years ago.

As more and more games include features like multiplayer and co-op gameplay the shift away from purely single player games will gain momentum. While there will always be a market for single player games that segment of the industry will become a much more focused one, with fewer developers delivering fewer such experiences. At the same time, with broadband internet becoming more widespread and inexpensive, more players will have the means and desire to play online.

Is the end near for single player games? Probably not the end as a whole but possibly the end of them as we used to know and love them is.

H.A.W.X.: Revolution X shooting down Ace Combat this fall

By Tiberius Jonez

Like Abbott and Costello, Hall and Oates and Lennon/McCartney, Tom Clancy and Ubisoft have been a long-standing team with a track record of success. Responsible for some of the most memorable IP’s around, from the Splinter Cell franchise to Rainbow Six: Vegas, the duo have become a staple of the shooter genre. That’s why I was surprised when I heard about their latest collaboration – an air combat game called H.A.W.X.: Revolution X which is set to debut this fall on the Xbox 360, PC and PS3.

With the Ace Combat series being the uncontested champ of this genre for the past ten years, it will be nice to have an alternative – especially one intent on straddling the line between arcade and simulation while maintaining a high level of realism.

The realism extends beyond the planes - which look beautiful – to the topography of the areas over which you’ll pilot them. By utilizing real satellite data, Ubisoft Romania says the areas you fly over will be virtually identical to their real world counterparts.

H.A.W.X. is an acronym for The High Altitude Warfare - Experimental Squadron, a real squadron founded in 1943. It was originally known as FALCO until the U2 spy plane scandal of the 1950’s forced the government to shut down the unit – at least publicly. In reality the name was changed to H.A.W.X and the program continued as a secret government project devoted to the testing of the US government's experimental aircraft and weapons systems, combat and recon black ops missions, training US and Allied pilots and the capture of enemy air-oriented technology.

The game is set in 2012 with the world on the precipice of global conflict. Private Military Corporations (PMC’s), which seem to be the favorite foil of game plots right now (see Metal Gear Solid 4), are available for hire by any sovereign country and are seen as legitimate mercenaries. Unfortunately, over the years the PMC’s have become more and more powerful and difficult to control, which is where the H.A.W.X. come in - to lay down the law.

H.A.W.X. offers a pilot assistance program called ERS, which aids in tracking enemies and piloting. The system is turned off by double-tapping your brakes and on by double-tapping your thrusters. According to a write up on IGN after a hands-on session with the game, switching back and forth between the two flight styles becomes second-nature within minutes and using it has nothing to do with skill level – it is something all players will use. In short, you’ll be turning ERS off when you need to make really difficult maneuvers that require full control of your jet’s systems and turning it on when you want to find difficult targets or get a better view of opposing planes during dogfights.

Judging by screenshots, H.A.W.X. is looking great and the gameplay sounds very promising. Hopefully we’ll see more on the game before its fall release.

Alone in the Dark setting survival horror on fire in June

by Tiberius Jonez

The new Alone in the Dark game which drops June 24th was already on my short list of summer releases to check out after watching the impressive tech demos from the game. Today Joystiq has a write-up about their extended hands-on play session with what is likely the final build of the game. According to the story, Alone in the Dark is set to take the survival horror genre in some completely new and exciting directions.

Alone in the Dark promises to be one of the most cinematic gaming experiences ever created. The game is broken into chapters with a cliffhanger at the end of each one, much like the serial shows from the 1940’s. Eden Studios, the developer making the game for publisher Atari, is encouraging everyone to finish the entire game regardless of skill level by making all the chapters available for play right from the start. You will be able to play any chapter at any time, and thanks to the “Previously on Alone in the Dark” recaps prior to each mission you won’t miss any key plot points if you have to skip part of a chapter due to difficulty of a puzzle or for any other reason.

The game will blend many different gameplay genres including platforming, environmental puzzles, first person-shooter and even driving elements. Aside from the supernatural premise of the game, the environments are very realistic. According to the developers, Central Park in the game is a near exact recreation of its real world counterpart.

Fire plays a key role in the game as a weapon and an obstacle and the game’s engine does a superb job of animating its behavior. Multiple solutions to every problem and weapon combining also play large roles in the gameplay.

Alone in the Dark is really starting to sound like a winner. This is one game I plan to play on day one. If you want more info, check out the full story on Joystiq.

Neversoft – “Guitar Hero IV will crush Rockband”

By Tiberius Jonez

Game Informer Senior Associate Editor Matt Helgeson appeared on Minneapolis Radio’s KFAN last night for their weekly video game show and talked about Guitar Hero 4, which he wrote this months Game Informer cover story about.

He talked about his recent visit to the game’s developer Neversoft. According to Helgeson, the Neversoft guys flat out stated that they plan to crush their primary (and only) competition Rockband by totally reinventing the franchise this year and that they know they can do the guitar better and they think they can come up with a better drum design as well, including cymbals.

Another juicy tidbit he revealed was the fact that Guitar Hero 4 will feature ONLY master tracks. No cover tunes will appear on this game at all. While they wouldn’t go into the list of songs or bands that will appear on the new game, they did say that we can expect some big name bands that will surprise everyone. The KFAN host tried to get Helgeson to reveal a deal between Neversoft and Led Zeppelin or AC/DC. While Helgeson conceded those would be two of the biggest “gets” any developer could achieve for a game like this he didn’t see either of those bands doing a game in the next year – not that Neversoft hasn’t tried.

According to Helgeson, Joe Perry of Aerosmith told him the Boston-based legends expect to make more money and get more exposure from their Guitar Hero game than their next album and tour combined. Where it was once nearly impossible for a developer to get a big name band on board for these titles, bands are beginning to see the huge rewards they can reap from licensing their music and likenesses for games.

Helgeson also said the Neversoft guys admitted they really dropped the ball on downloadable content with the last game and that they plan to make up for that the next time around in a big way – although no specifics were revealed.

Here’s hoping Neversoft can deliver on the huge promise and bring Guitar Hero back to its rightful place atop the music game throne.

Do you prefer Guitar Hero or Rockband? Comment and let us know.

Rediscovering the PSP

by Tiberius Jonez

After a recent good run of Texas Hold ‘Em at the local casino I decided to spend some of my winnings on a new slim-line silver PSP. I bought an original PSP during the original launch, but after a six month drought of games I sold it. This time around I figured there had to be more games available and even if there weren’t I liked the movie playback and photo presentation aspects of it enough to justify it as a worthy addition to my office desk.

I picked it up in the Daxter/Family Guy edition which came with the 1 Gig Memory Stick and I grabbed MLB2K8 to go with it. The first thing I noticed when I got it out of the box was how much lighter it was than the original PSP; it was a dramatic difference. After configuring my wireless settings I immediately updated the firmware to version 3.95 and started checking out some of the new features like the internet radio and improved PSP store. The internet radio worked flawlessly and I found the new PSP store to be a huge improvement over what I remember. It is still not as easy as shopping amazon or downloading demos from a site like fileplanet, but overall it was easy to use and worked without trouble.

I downloaded the demo for Syphon Filter Dark Mirror. This game sports some excellent graphics and the controls work considerably better than those in Socom. Most games I’ve played online with my PSP are total lag fests, but surprisingly, Syphon Filter played very smoothly online – which didn’t keep me from getting owned.

I’ve played several levels of Syphon Filter and I am really enjoying it.As a shooter vet it is possibly too forgiving with an abundance of health packs and ammo scattered about, but the graphics, gameplay, story elements and wide assortment of weapons are quite impressive for a handheld game. In fact, graphically, I can safely say this is better than many PS2 games I’ve played. If you have a PSP, you should pick this one up.

MLB2k8 also has very nice graphics but I am either terrible at hitting or it is very difficult to hit consistently – I’m not sure which yet. Fielding controls are smooth and the animations are pretty varied. I still prefer the overall gameplay of the original MLB from Sony better though. The fielding animations in that game were so sweet. But I like the pitching mechanics of MLB2K8 better.

Finally, I traded in Tomb Raider Legend (too brain busting for me) for Tekken: Dark Resurrection. On the big consoles, I personally prefer Dead or Alive to Tekken, but for a handheld title this game is absolutely fantastic. It really stretches preconceived notions of what a handheld game can be as far as speed of play and graphics. If you like Tekken, this is a guaranteed winner. The best part is all but 3 of the playable characters are available right from the start, so you don’t have to trudge through the story mode 600 times to unlock all the fighters.

I’ve only had my new PSP for a month but I am very satisfied. I’m enjoying it much more this time around and this latest batch of games has convinced me the PSP can have long legs if quality developers are making games for it. With the extended-life battery I’m getting 8-12 hours of gameplay on a single charge and the new features included in the latest firmware updates are nice additions.

I will be delving into Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters next week and will have more on that once I’ve gotten a good taste of it.

IGN - Latest PS3 title mired in a Haze

by Tiberius Jonez

The latest big title for the PS3, Haze has been highly anticipated by many as the game to bridge the PS3 gaming gap until Metal Gear Solid 4 drops in June. Sadly, according to IGN’s review of the game, the only thing Haze will do is make you want to jump off a bridge.

The review scores the game a paultry 4.5/10 and describes Haze as “a middling, generic first-person shooter with bland visuals, a weak plot and laughable characters”. Of the graphics IGN says, “Many of the environmental textures are generic and weak, and you'll frequently see seams or tearing constantly pop up within the game, which distracts from the action onscreen. The worst example of this has to be the visuals for the flamethrower, the Dragon de la Gente, which vomits a horrid cone of supposed flame that looks visually on par with what you'd find from the 386 PC days 15 years ago”.

It’s good to see developers harnessing the power of the Cell processor…ok, maybe not. With two of the PS3’s biggest guns, Little Big Planet and Killzone 2 being delayed, 2008 is starting to look a lot like 2007 – which is to say, not good.

Somehow the console continues to outsell the Xbox360 in most markets, which leaves me to wonder why? Is it selling purely on the strength of Blu-Ray? If you own a PS3, are you happy about it and why did you buy it? Comment and let us know.

GTA IV – Game of the Year or Over-hyped Letdown?

by Tiberius Jonez

The smoke has cleared, literally and figuratively, and I’ve had a chance to step back and gather my thoughts about Grand Theft Auto 4.

Does this latest installment from gaming behemoth Take Two/Rockstar live up to the massive hype or is it just shooting blanks?

The answer to that question depends largely on your own expectations of the game prior to its release. If you were expecting a revolutionary, ground-breaking game that would change the world of videogames – well, GTA IV isn’t that. But the fact that it uses many of the tried and true formulas of the previous GTA games isn’t a bad thing in most respects.

First off, while the graphics have been lauded as amazing by most reviewers, compared to games like Call of Duty 4 and Gran Turismo Prologue, you may find GTA IV to be somewhat disappointing – at least at first glance. But compared to previous GTA games it is absolutely stunning. What makes the game engine special is the amount of minute detail to be found – much of which doesn’t become noticeable until you’ve been playing for a few hours.

While it’s true that Liberty City is significantly smaller than either Vice City or San Andreas of the earlier games, no other game city has been presented with this amount of character and sheer detail. Every street has its own surface right down to sheet metal patches, potholes and manholes. Steam rising from those manhole covers is convincing and the physics interaction between your vehicle’s tires and the road is superb.

The first time you get to drive through Liberty City’s version of Times Square, the lights and people and plain “realness” of the scene is a true “wow” gaming moment. I found myself driving up and down the strip several times just to take in all the detail. It is stunning.

The other stunning part of GTA IV is the writing. This is the first time I’ve played a GTA game where I actually identified with the protagonist. No, I’m not a Slavic immigrant but as you play through the tale of Niko Belic, you can’t help but feel his pain and frustration with the people around him and the world itself which seems to constantly push him into making decisions counter to his own convictions. And that is what seperates Niko from previous GTA characters – he has convictions. He is a ruthless killer and a career criminal, but not necessarily by choice. As his story is revealed it becomes clear that life has led him down this path and he has simply done the best he can to survive. Because Niko actually has a conscience, at times you may find yourself feeling guilty for some of your actions. It is a refreshing change to play a GTA game that actually presents moral conundrums instead of only mindless violence and mischief.

The story sports multiple endings making it worth a second play through just to see the alternate ending. Interaction between characters and a few meaty plot-twists really set this story apart from previous GTA games. The writing in spots is on par with anything from Hollywood and will hook you early and keep you there. The cut-scenes are all done in-engine helping to maintain a feeling of consistency that sustains your suspension of disbelief.

As for gameplay, GTA IV does use many of the mechanics of previous GTA games – drive here, deliver this, assassinate this person, etcetera. But the way the missions are done in terms of variety and pacing, they somehow always feel fresh and you will likely never find yourself bored.

Gunplay is much improved over earlier GTA games with a more user friendly control scheme and the addition of a cover mechanic similar to that of Gears of War and other recent games. While Niko will occasionally get “stuck” in cover, the fact that you can move from object to object and maintain cover is very cool and creates an added layer of realism and strategy to the gunfights. You can take cover behind virtually any object in the game that you would in real life. In one instance I moved from behind a trash can to a car to another car to a short wall to a building without ever exposing myself all in one firefight. Yeah, it was fun.

There are no planes to be flown in GTA IV but pretty much every other vehicle you could ask for is here, including helicopters. If you’ve played other games in the series, the handling of cars will feel familiar but more satisfying. Every car has its own unique handling characteristics and I found driving from the in-car view to be very intuitive and enjoyable while motorcycles are best ridden in third-person view. The helicopters are surprisingly easy and fun to fly which is a blessing since your best view of the city is from the air. Boats handle very nicely and the physics reactions between hull and water are surprisingly realistic. One glitch that seems to be a carryover from the previous games is seeing a million other people driving whatever car you happen to be driving at the moment. It is not a big thing, but it is somewhat jarring when you finally find that rare sports car you’ve been looking for and as soon as you hop in it every Joe Schmo on the road has the same highly coveted luxury ride. Not a big deal, but somewhat disappointing considering this is a “next-gen” title.

Of course the radio stations are a staple of GTA games going back to GTA III and they do not disappoint here. You can spend hours just driving around listening to the radio if you wish. Between the comical banter of radio hosts, satirical commercials and another outstanding collection of great music from every conceivable genre, there is something for you to enjoy from Liberty City’s airwaves.

If you’re exhausted from the whirlwind of mayhem, you can also take a break and just chill in your apartment watching the boob tube. There are several programming options from a spoof of “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous”, stand up comedy and a pseudo talk show hosted by a ‘roid-raging fighter and a metro-sexual. There’s also a commercial for a reality TV show based around former celebrities downward-spiraling into oblivion.

As far as customization of your character, GTA IV foregoes lifting weights and changing Niko’s shape in favor of maintaining a consistent character throughout the gaming experience. But you can buy a wide variety of clothes for Niko allowing you to sport a look ranging anywhere from “Eastern Bloc Ghetto” to “Manhattan Elite”.

I could say much, much more about GTA IV, but the simple fact is, this is a game you must play to appreciate. While you are still invited to and rewarded for wandering aimlessly doing whatever you wish, the story portion of this Grand Theft Auto game is more mature than any previous installment in the series in terms of writing, presentation and style. Be forewarned however, you may actually feel bad for killing that innocent bystander this time around.