61 Frames Per Second

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• Yes, There is a New Dungeon Keeper. No, You Can’t Have It.

  I love my morning feed of press releases as much as the next guy (read: not very much, but at least it’s not as depressing as real news), but this morning I seriously considered never, ever looking at it again. And not because it was boring, because that I can take. No, this morning it was actually cruel to me. The release in question had a title that contained the words “New Online Game – Dungeon Keeper Online.” In a perfect world that phrase would be...well, less redundant, but also sacrosanct, the sort of words that would come down a mountain embossed in a pillar of bronze. The ensuing party would last for days. But just before popping the champagne, it occurred to me to actually, you know, read the release. And, of course, this was not the return of Peter Molyneux’s beloved good-to-be-bad strategy game that left me cackling into the wee hours of 1997. This despite its name, and despite "themes, characters and other game content" that will be coming from that game. No, this Dungeon Keeper is by NetDragon, a company you’ve never heard of because it primarily makes those inscrutable grindfest MMOs for Asia. Oh, and by the way, Asia is the only place you’ll be able to play Dungeon Keeper Online. Read More... Posted Dec 01 2008, 12:00 PM by Joe Keiser with | with no comments Filed under: ea, mmorpgs, cruelty, dungeon keeper

• Need For Speed is Hilarious: Return of the Live Action Cutscene

  First, the tiny confession: I have never ever played a Need For Speed. I’m no racing fanatic, but I’m shocked I’ve managed to avoid them this long. I tend to play one racer obsessively every couple of years, a cycle that began with Rage Racer way back in, yes, 1998. (It actually came out in mid-’97, but I didn’t play it until a full year later, curious after reading previews for R4: Ridge Racer Type 4. That year really was awesome, wasn’t it?) The arcade-style delights of Ridge Racer are really what appeal to me in a racing game, something Need For Speed has in spades, so it’s surprising I’ve never played one of its fifteen different entries until this week. If Need For Speed: Undercover is anything to go by, I haven’t been missing much. The game’s something of a poor man’s Burnout: Paradise, giving you an open world to drive your licensed rides about but not letting you do much interesting inside of it. You can’t just stumble into races, you’ve got to select them from a menu or press down when driving near them, prompting load times and cutscenes. The driving is no great shakes, either, fast and presentable but with none of the edge of your seat spectacle that makes the aforementioned Burnout such a treat. I’m going to keep playing Need For Speed, though, for no other reason than to keep watching it’s hilarious live action cutscenes. Check out the goods after the jump. Read More... Posted Nov 20 2008, 07:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, ea, need for speed, command & conquer, fmv hell, ridge racer, tim curry, need for speed undercover, red alert 3, rage racer

• WTF EA?: Boom Blox Blueprint Studio “Closed”

  Had you told me a year ago that EA would publish not one but three of 2008’s best games, I would have called you a liar and then kindly asked you to stop letting your dog defecate on my perfectly kept lawn. Had you then told me that said three games would all be original IPs and that among them was one of Steven Spielberg’s gaming projects, I would have promptly put on my heaviest pair of boots and kicked you square in the groin for lying even more. And yet here we are. Dead Space and Mirror’s Edge, while not perfect, are far and away two of the most memorable things I’ve played in the past twelve months. Unfortunately, I still haven’t gotten to play Boom Blox but it’s sitting at the very top of a long list of games I need to play before January rolls around. Derrick’s been singing its praises since it came out and the promise of a quality original game for Wii with great single and multiplayer is just plain alluring. I do, after all, want to use my Wii for something. So it’s with a heavy heart that I tell you good readers that the unofficial EA studio known as Blueprint, the network of designers responsible for Boom Blox, has been dissolved. Read More... Posted Nov 19 2008, 07:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, boom blox, steven spielberg, ea, wii, metroid prime, retro studios, dead space, mirror’s edge, bomb lox 2, armature studios, lmno, blueprint studios

• F**k Your Future: Mirror’s Edge, Blade Runner, and the Future City

  The image above is a little bit of Deus Ex 3 concept art from Eidos Montreal, the crack design team who broadened our sexual horizons with Fear Effect and taught us that controlling sociopathic murders is boring as sin with Kane & Lynch. I can imagine the dialogue between the artists and producers when this image was submitted for approval: "What do you got for us today, concept artists?" "Check dis!" "This isn't Deus Ex! This is just a screencap from Blade Runner with the guy from Deus Ex 1 smoking in front of it!" "I'm fired aren't I?" "No! It's perfect! That’s all these nerds want anyway." I kid. There is no Deus Ex without Blade Runner, after all. While its influence isn’t quite on the level of Aliens, Blade Runner’s vision of a nightmare cityscape in the far-flung-but-familiar future is a close second. Read More... Posted Nov 18 2008, 02:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: ea, dice, blade runner, contra, mass effect, deus ex, aliens, eidos, soul bubbles, mirror’s edge, abe’s odyssey, syd mead, abe’s exodus, flashback, deus ex 3, shadowrun, oddworld

• The Eternal Question: Why Is Super Mario Bros. Fun?

  No, seriously, take a minute to think about it. Pour yourself a stiff drink or brew up a nice cuppa tea, put on your thinking cap and try to summarize your conclusion in a single sentence. It’s a peculiar question, really. I found myself trying to answer it late last night after spending some time with Mirror’s Edge. DICE’s platformer shares a lot of the same fundamentals as good ol’ SMB and, concerning the question at hand, both are fun for similar reasons. Super Mario Bros. lets you go wild on a playground where the laws of gravity are paying only loose attention and injury is not a threat. You can run and jump to your heart’s content, and if you see something, like a shiny coin or glowing box that might hide unknown treats, you can hit it with your fist and never worry about bloodied knuckles. Super Mario Bros. is fun because running and jumping, whether in real life or on a screen, is fun, and it’s this maxim that’s fueled platforming as a genre for twenty-five years. But the greatest platformers, the Marios and the Mega Mans, owe their success to more than just running and jumping. They also let you change their world. In Mario, especially in later series entries that allowed flight, crushing bricks opens new ways to move through the Mushroom Kingdom’s surreal landscapes. Mega Man has to destroy robots to ensure safe landings after a jump. If jumping and running was all you did in Jon Blow’s Braid, it could barely be called a game at all. When you settle into Mirror’s Edge, when you trust yourself to move through the level properly and let DICE’s carefully laid out obstacle courses subtly guide you, it manages to transcend the natural abstraction that comes from making things on TV move. It is physically and mentally affecting. It is fun. But, and mind you I’ve only played the first three levels of the game, all you do is run, jump, and climb. Read More... Posted Nov 11 2008, 12:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, nintendo, ea, dice, super mario bros 3, mario, mega man, super mario bros, super mario world, braid, mirror’s edge, what are you looking at, buddy?, jon blow, fun?

• Yahtzee on Dead Space: Competent But Bland

  Everyone's favorite fedora-wearing snark king is back again this week with another review, this time dealing with EA's new action/horror title Dead Space.  On a certain podcast I can't quite remember, I heard Dead Space referred to as Now That's What I Call Survival Horror Vol. 1; meaning, of course, that the game combines several popular features of existing survival horror games into a single compilation.  From what Yahtzee says, it looks like this description is pretty accurate: I really do think Dead Space's familiar-to-a-fault game play is a result of the publisher; really, anything with the EA brand these days is designed to be friendly and inoffensive.  In this era of gigantic publishers, it feels like a certain dumbing-down is happening.  Take a look at Activision's Call of Duty 4; the game refuses to tell you what Middle Eastern country you're in--although it should be pretty obvious to anyone with a passing knowledge of current events. Read More... Posted Nov 05 2008, 03:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with no comments Filed under: ea, yahtzee, zero punctuation, dead space, bob mackey, electronic arts

• Left4Dead: The Most Important Training Simulation You Will Ever Play

  I am not embarrassed by many things. For example, when I invite a delightful young woman over to my apartment for a romantic liaison, I know full well that one of the first things she is going to see is a gigantic vinyl Godzilla. It sits on a mantle over a television surrounded by seven videogame consoles. The fridge is empty save for countless individual packets of soy sauce, a pitcher of water, and a lonesome bottle of Miracle Whip that may or may not have been there when I moved in. There is a framed map of Zebes from Super Metroid hanging in my bedroom. These are not things that label me “a catch.” I am also not embarrassed to admit what a terrible cliché I am. Like countless other men of my generation, raised with a nigh on religious devotion to media, I too have a Zombie Plan. The plan details what I will do during the initial weeks of the zombie apocalypse, that is to say, when my urban home is overrun with the brain-hungry undead. The plan is multi-tiered and incredibly thorough. I have this plan because it is important to be prepared for zombies. I also have it because I enjoy daydreaming about the zombie apocalypse. I am not embarrassed by this, and apparently neither is Valve, makers of Half-Life, Portal, Team Fortress, and this fall’s Left4Dead. Read More... Posted Oct 15 2008, 09:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, ea, valve, portal, half-life, team fortress, zombies need to be planned for, left4dead, john romero, 28 days later

• Mirror’s Edge: Everything You’ve Heard Is True

  Since the beginning of 2008, I’ve been watching Mirror’s Edge from a distance, pining away for its delicious cityscape, smitten with its sterile and pristine blues, whites, reds, and yellows. It was, and is, a visual panacea to cure the over-bloom-lit, over-brown, over-textured HD gaming landscape. When the first gameplay videos started hitting the net at the beginning of May, Edge’s smooth parkour action and emphasis on non-violent flight transformed my infatuation into full-on love. I needed this game to be as good as it looked, to deliver on its proposed fluid play. I’ve been dreaming about a game based on momentum and escape for years now, and here it was in action. But the proof, as always, is in the play. After playing Mirror’s Edge at EA’s fall preview event today, my first impression is it’s exactly what developer DICE has been promising. Everything you’ve heard is true. Read More... Posted Oct 15 2008, 08:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, playstation 3, ea, dice, xbox 360, e3, ps3, parkour, mirror’s edge, daivd belle

• The 61FPS Review: Dead Space

  In 1986, the world bore witness to one of gaming’s most important watershed moments, an event whose profound impact on the medium is still seen today, in games released every week. Protagonists, game worlds, sound effects, and art direction; there is no facet of design that this single creative work hasn’t influenced. It isn’t The Legend of Zelda or Metroid. It isn’t Out Run, Adventure Island, Kid Icarus, Bubble Bobble, or Castlevania. It isn’t even a videogame. The gaming legacy of James Cameron’s Aliens cannot be overstated. Ignore all thirty games actually based on Aliens and consider the past twenty-two years of gaming as a whole. Syd Mead’s art and designs cover every game from R-Type to Halo 3. H.R. Geiger’s titular xenomorph is mirrored in hundreds of enemies, even beyond Contra. The group dynamics and character archetypes of Cameron’s protagonists are the template for almost every squad-based shooter ever made. And the forbidding labyrinth of colony LV-426 has defined entire genres, particularly the first-person shooter. This movie is where the space marine, modern videogames’ essential lead, comes from. Aliens made many, many games what they are. But no one game has ever gone as far in recreating the entire Aliens experience – of allowing you to actually enter a dilapidated, abandoned science fiction world full of monsters hunting you from the shadows – as EA Redwood Shores’ Dead Space. The Ishimura and its broken, dimly lit passages, the bloodthirsty and relentless necromorphs spawned from the ship’s dead, the weapons you wield as Isaac Clarke (the pulse rifle and flame thrower being the direct nods,) even Jason Graves and Rod Abernathy’s screeching, dissonant score are all explicitly lifted straight out of the film. The game’s disparate parts conspire to let you actually play James Cameron’s sci-fi survival ride instead of watch it. The gameplay follows the formula precisely: at the start of all twelve chapters in Dead Space, you are instructed to go to a place, locate that chapter’s MacGuffin (a machine that needs fixing, a person, a creature that needs killing,) eliminate a specific obstacle, and survive a constant and seemingly unstoppable, unpredictable threat aided only by limited supplies and unreliable supporting characters. What’s more, Dead Space succeeds, a work that ends up as far more than the sum of its borrowed parts. Read More... Posted Oct 14 2008, 08:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, ea, resident evil, 61fps review, aliens, dead space

• Star Wars, Lucasarts, Bioware: You’re Doing It Wrong.

  Come October 21st, the inevitable will finally happen. After years of hemming, hawing, clamoring, and speculating, Bioware and Lucasarts are going to announce an MMO based on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. This is not a guess. Bioware’s leash-holder, EA, already spoiled the surprise in July when chief executive John Riccitello flat-out admitted it existed. I couldn’t be more disappointed. Read More... Posted Oct 08 2008, 06:30 PM by John Constantine with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, star wars, ea, lucasarts, bioware, mmo

• Question of the Day: How Do You Make a Horror Game Horrifying?

  Don’t be afraid. There are no ghouls here. Just nerds. ‘Tis the season for delighting in frights, is it not? That time of year when Halloween is just around the corner, the days get darker, and the things that go bump in the night start getting goosebumps, because, hey, it’s cold out there. As I mentioned last week, it’s also the beginning of game season. Horror, as a genre, doesn’t have quite the presence it did in gaming a few years back, but autumn 2008’s seeing a number of high-profile scary games hitting consoles across the land. Silent Hill’s back after a four year absence, EA is releasing their brand new IP Dead Space in just over a week, and Atari is re-launching their ill-fated Alone in the Dark on PS3. Horror games are an absolute favorite of mine. There’s a visceral thrill they provide that is distinct to the medium, mixing the tension-and-release dynamic essential to horror in any medium with the deep satisfaction of accomplishment that comes from successfully playing a game. Read More... Posted Oct 06 2008, 06:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, ea, silent hill, konami, atari, alone in the dark, dead space, question of the day

• Tales of The Focus Group: Peter Moore Takes No Guff

  I get latching onto game designers as personalities. It’s no different than the cult of personality that sprouts up around musicians, writers, and film directors. Gaming’s rich with characters too: from the robot-building eccentrics like Will Wright, frothing madmen like David Jaffe, and mean drunks like Tomonobu Itagaki. What mystifies me is the way gamers latch onto publishing executives and marketers. Seriously, who cares about Reggie Fils-Aime? The guy doesn’t make Nintendo’s games, he just makes sure they’re profitable. Or how about Peter Moore? When that wily Brit was in charge of Microsoft’s games division, there was no end of fanboy chatter about his antics. Oh, Peter Moore got a Grand Theft Auto IV tattoo! Take that, Sony! Once he moved on to EA Sports, the guy disappeared from the limelight, no longer a face for console war jibber-jabber. Well, after today, I am forced to admit that I am interested in Peter Moore. Not because he’s starting some wild new business initiative to ramp up EA’s creative output or anything of the sort. No, I want to know more about Peter Moore because one of his last actions as president of Sega of America was to tell Yuji Naka, creator of Sonic the Hedgehog, to fuck off. Read More... Posted Sep 05 2008, 02:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 7 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, ea, xbox 360, Grand theft auto 4, sega, dreamcast, peter moore, yuji naka

• Fix It: Alone in the Dark, Tiger Woods, and the Death of the Glitch

  Today was an interesting day for getting a keen look at what happens when games come to the public in less than perfect shape. For starters, Atari and developer Eden took the middling reception of Alone in the Dark to heart. They’re showing off the Playstation 3 version of the game in Leipzig at the moment featuring in-progress fixes to the game’s unmanageable, glitchy camera as well as the iffy driving and inventory control in the game. They will also be releasing these fixes as a patch for the Xbox 360 edition of the game. Of course, Eden didn’t have to do this. They could have just gone the EA route, and (hilariously) said that those aren’t glitches! That’s just the way the game’s meant to be played. Chances are though, EA will go ahead and patch Tiger Woods ’09 regardless of the funny marketing. This is the way of it with games in the age of net-enabled consoles; ship the game as soon as you possibly can, fix it later if you have to. PC games have enjoyed patching for well over a decade at this point but it’s still a new phenomenon in the world of devoted gaming machines. It’s a good thing, ultimately. If NES games with crippling slow down could have been patched, they would have been. The romantic in me, though, can’t help but be sad to see console games lose their permanent state. Glitches in classic games have a rich, memorable history. Take, for example, this classic. Read More... Posted Aug 21 2008, 07:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, ea, mega man, atari, alone in the dark, super mario bros, speedrun, tiger woods

• Everyone Will be Able to Rock

  At the end of June, my concerns for the future of videogames' burgeoning rock star genre were growing by the hour. Activision was waving their new drum kit in EA’s face while Konami tried to get people to like their music games outside of Japan. The big problem? None of those companies appeared to give a damn that they were flooding a market and audience already drowning under a torrent of plastic instruments. Not to mention that none of those instruments were guaranteed to be compatible with games that didn’t come packaged with alongside them. Yeah, Guitar Hero 3 and its electronic axe might be one of the ten best selling games in the history of games but that doesn’t mean the genre bubble can’t burst. Today, another faceless company has helped to allay my fears. And, would you believe it, it’s Sony doing the allaying. The once haughty Japanese giant stated on their Playstation blog that they have reached an agreement with Activision, EA/MTV, and Konami to allow every single publisher’s rock & roll instruments will work with every publisher’s games on the Playstation 3. Bought Rock Revolution but want to get in on Rock Band 2’s killer track list? Go for it. Feel like using that gorgeous new Guitar Hero World Tour drum kit with Konami’s new opus? Fine, have fun. Not only that, but SCEA also said that, though it isn’t happening just yet, they’re working on a fix for the original Rock Band and Guitar Hero 3 as well. This is the first step on the road to peripheral-based music games finally coming into their own. Guitar Hero made them an institution but this agreement will help cement the instrument set as an expandable platform that doesn’t necessitate annual hardware revisions. What else needs to happen to guarantee this glorious, melodious future? Read More... Posted Aug 18 2008, 03:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, nintendo, ea, microsoft, xbox 360, wii, konami, sony, guitar hero, rock band, activision, rock revolution, harmonix, itunes, mtv, apple, scea, neversoft

• Interview Round Up: Suda 51, Shinji Mikami, and Mikami’s Replacements on Resident Evil

  This is what happens when Shinji Mikami and Suda 51 work together. The greatest interviews in the gaming world can’t all come from 61 Frames Per Second, dontcha know! While we’ve been chatting with the OCRemix crew about Street Fighter II HD Remix, Gamasutra’s Christian Nutt has been chatting with director Yasuhiro Anpo and producer Jun Takeuchi of Capcom about their controversial sequel, Resident Evil 5. Read More... Posted Aug 15 2008, 02:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: gamasutra, ea, shinji mikami, resident evil, 1up, grasshopper, jun takeuchi, suda 51, killer 7

• Overworld: Friday the 13th

  Overworld examines how one game or series establishes a unique sense of place. Buzz for EA Redwood Shores’ Dead Space has gone from indifference to genuine excitement in the weeks since E3. Now that people have actually played the interactive paean to Cameron-Carpenter-styled horror, they’ve found that its forbidding atmosphere, sound, and HUD-free presentation are hype-worthy and legitimately scary. I haven’t gotten to try it out myself but I’m anxious to get my hands on it. Redwood Shores have taken the essential road to designing quality interactive horror; Dead Space is, at its core, a game about confinement, about being trapped in a hostile environment with limited means of survival. Videogames lend themselves to this method of creating tension and anxiety because their environments are, naturally, closed. System Shock’s dilapidated space station, Resident Evil’s mansion, and even the more expansive town of Silent Hill are perfectly closed spaces, places that simultaneously create dread and a functional goal: how do I get out? It’s far rarer to see a game take the opposite route. After all, it isn’t easy to make a game that makes you feel lost. If a game forces you to lose yourself in its environment, by way of randomly generated environments or trick passages that lead to incongruous locations (as in Zelda’s Lost Woods), it risks frustrating the player – this is especially bad if the game’s intent is horror, since frustration can easily replace anxiety. It’s equally difficult to create a closed environment that is delicately constructed to confuse the player. The original Metroid and its Game Boy sequel are two of the only games that manage to successfully pull this off thanks to its series of identical hallways and dead ends. Another is Friday the 13th. Read More... Posted Aug 14 2008, 03:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, overworld, metroid, nintendo, ea, resident evil, silent hill, nes, dead space, Friday the 13th, ljn

• Brett Favrerererer Wins: The Inexplicable Popularity of Madden

  You may or may not have noticed this whilst reading 61 Frames Per Second, but we don’t talk about simulators that often. Personally, and you’ll most likely find this true of the rest of the team, I don’t play Gran Turismo or Microsoft Flight Simulator. If I’m playing a videogame, I want my cars going too fast and defying physics a la Burnout. If I’m playing a videogame, I want my airplane to be shooting many other planes while looking awesome and defying physics a la After Burner. The same goes for sports. Tecmo Bowl, NHLPA ’93, and Hot Shots Golf are fun because they don’t provide authentic football, hockey, and golf experiences. This is why I’ve always been somewhat mystified by the Madden franchise’s massive popularity; in its modern incarnations, it is a brutally realistic simulation of football. In order to play Madden well – not competition level, but actually using the game’s mechanics properly – you need to have both a deep understanding of the actual sport’s rules as well as the game’s incredibly complex controls. Football rules, sure, but how did a game so hard become so damn popular? Read More... Posted Aug 07 2008, 04:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, ea, gran turismo, madden, after burner, brett favre, hot shots golf, nhl, burnout

• E3 Day 4: No Blades, No Bows. Leave Your Weapons Here.

  Much as I’d like to say things are winding down for E3, they’re really not. You have to wind up before you can wind down, after all. The announcements are over, the plans are in place, and 2008’s heavy hitters have finally been played. There isn’t too much more to say about E3 08’s broad implications for gaming as a medium and today didn’t yield any revelations that would necessitate any further waxing philosophical (though the Wii did finally surpass Xbox 360’s install base in North America. Surprise, surprise, surprise.) That said, while it’s still too early to call it a trend, two of E3’s more intriguing titles share a unique quirk: Ubisoft’s just announced I Am Alive, teased only with a CGI trailer, and EA’s freshly playable Mirror’s Edge are both blockbuster positioned games that de-emphasize violence. Read More... Posted Jul 17 2008, 08:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, nintendo, mirror's edge, ea, xbox 360, wii, ubisoft, e3, i am alive

• Trailer Review: Tecmo Bowl – Kickoff

  E3 2008’s been running for just under forty-eight hours at this point, if you count yesterday’s early festivities with Microsoft and EA, and the internet is awash with flashy exciting trailers. The first gameplay footage from Ubisoft’s Prince of Persia proves that the new adventure is even more deliciously gorgeous and detailed than its already beautiful screenshots, the Mirror’s Edge gameplay demonstration delivers on the promise of that game’s unique take on first-person gaming, and iD’s Rage is exhibiting all the gloss and zombie-ness of a classic John-Carmack-Tech-Showcase. But who cares about those? Every trailer, every look at fresh gameplay from cutting edge titles, every CGI tease pales in comparison to these sixty seconds of Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff. Read More... Posted Jul 15 2008, 01:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, mirror's edge, ea, trailer review, prince of persia, e3, rage, id, tecmo bowl

• You Got Served: Zubo Puts Music in Your Combat

  About a year ago I had a brilliant idea for a game. Take the play mechanics of Rock Band and cram them inside a traditional RPG. This would be awesome! My friends tell me it would only work in Japan, but think about it. Let's say your party approaches a mean ol' dragon. Your character plays lead guitar, your two buddies play drums and sing. In order to defeat the dragon, you have to engage in some 'Devil Went Down to Georgia' style dueling instrumentation. Instead of just hitting 'A' when you want to attack, you bust out a blazing guitar solo. Each of the instrumets have different powers. You could line up guitar with fire, vocals with ice, drums with earth. Different rhythms produce different effects. A hip hop beatboxer or opera singer could join your party.  Play sad songs to defuse angry enemies. The strength of your attack is determined by creative improvisation or meticulous beat matching. Every missed note weakens your attacks. Iggy Pop guest stars! A dwarf with a double-neck Flying V! People getting served! The possibilities are endless! Why hasn't anyone done this yet? I'm a lot more confident in this idea than those mockups of Megaman bosses I mailed to Capcom as a seven year old. Sure enough, some developer thinks its a good idea, too...sorta.   Meet Zubo, an action-rhythm hybrid coming out later this year for the DS. Developed by EA Bright Light, <i>Zubo</i>'s combat is driven by music, not too dissimilar to my above brainchild. Read More... Posted Jun 25 2008, 03:00 AM by Cole Stryker with | with no comments Filed under: ea, capcom, rock band, cole stryker, harmonix, zubo

• NPD Wrap: The Times Are a Changin’

  April’s come to a close and now, under the cold, hard light of math, three things are becoming clear. First, people freaking love Nintendo games. Sure, we already knew that, but over a million people bought Mario Kart for Wii in less than a week. Second, people freaking love Grand Theft Auto. Nearly two million people bought that in even less time. Third, our access to new videogames is going to change dramatically in the very near future. While these numbers may just look like numbers to us, to the people who publish videogames, the people who control when we get to engage these creations, the math is saying that 2008 is different. Tradition dictates that high profile, big hype games are held in reserve for the holiday push from late September through December and the rest of the year is just a slow trickle of quality goods. The math of March and April 2008 says that people will buy many, many games throughout the year, not just around Christmas. What happens now? Going forward, we’re going to see more games, more often. At least, until digital distribution destroys physical media and the whole issue becomes moot. Come get some hard analysis and delicious numbers after the jump. Read More... Posted May 16 2008, 02:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, playstation 3, nintendo, nintendo ds, ea, microsoft, npd, xbox 360, wii, psp, mario kart, ubisoft, sony, call of duty, pokemon, gran turismo, army of two, super smash bros, guitar hero, rainbow six, Grand theft auto 4

• Trailer Review: Mirror’s Edge

  SCEE showed the first public footage of Dice’s Mirror’s Edge at their Playstation Day 2008 event this past Tuesday and it’s thrilling to say that it looks every bit as good in motion as early screenshots have implied. The first-person parkour play looks like it may be initially disorienting but if the control ends up being as streamlined as ME’s world, it will be one of 2008’s most exciting works on a sheer mechanical level. But beyond the way it moves, Dice deserves a huge high five just for their choice of setting and character. The blindingly unblemished cityscape and blue skies are a serious change of pace from the Blade Runner-inspired dank metropolises that have typified gaming for years. And protagonist Faith, well, not to be blunt, but she doesn’t have a monolithic bust line, she’s wearing athletic attire that’s actually suited to her actions, and she’s not white. Hell, she’s not even baring a mid-riff! If it weren’t for the silly eye tattoo, I’d be comfortable saying that she’s hands down the most interesting female lead since Beyond Good & Evil’s Jade. Hit the jump to enjoy the sights and sounds. Read More... Posted May 12 2008, 02:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, scee, beyond good and evil, mirror's edge, ea, dice, trailer review