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• The Problem With Episodes: Where is LostWinds Chapter 2?

  Looking at the game design zeitgeist through the lens of GDC, you can start to get a clearer image of what videogames are going to be like in the next decade. More small games, more downloadable games, more mobile/iPhone games, more user generated content. This is the way of the future. It isn’t a future unique to GDC 2009, though. These have been the trends dominating futurist industry discussion for five years running. We know it’s the future, dag nab it! Enough. Let us talk of the past. One design trend that everyone and their Commodore 64-programming uncle was talking about just three years ago was episodic content. Episodes! This is how big games will be delivered from here on out! Wave of the future, by gum. Gabe Newell and Valve were the poster children of the episodic games movement. They’re also the poster children of how well that movement has worked out. Read More... Posted Apr 01 2009, 05:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, where is, wiiware, gabe newell, telltale games, david braben, frontier developments, half-life episode 3, strong bad’s cool game for attractive people, Lostwinds, sam & max, lostwinds 2

• Where is Shadow Hearts?

  The last generation of consoles wasn't exactly kind to JRPGs; for as much as genre shined--or perhaps peaked--in the 32-bit era, the early years of the PS2, XBox and GameCube gave us nothing but a shoddy lineup of lukewarm titles with an endless supply of randomly-generated dungeons. These systems were eventually home to some great RPGs that haven't yet been topped by anything on the current generation of hardware--like Dragon Quest VIII and Final Fantasy XII--but we had to wait until said consoles were on their last legs before we got anything worth playing. But amongst all of those shoddy Shining Force derivates and tri-Ace travesties, a certain trilogy sat quietly in the background, ignored by most who (rightfully) assumed it was just another exercise in inanity. This mystery series I speak of is Shadow Hearts, which may in fact represent the last time a developer actually had fun with the JRPG genre. Read More... Posted Mar 05 2009, 02:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with no comments Filed under: where is, jrpg, bob mackey, shadow hearts, mia

• Where Is SSX?

  Let me ask you a question, EA Canada: must it all be so gosh darned realistic these days? I’ve played Skate and Skate 2. Cool games. Cool games that helpfully reinforce, digitally, that my brain is not ready to take up skateboarding. The sheer amount of things I need to take into consideration whilst performing a simple trick in Skate terrifies me. If I tried to do this in real life, and I had to think about all the different things I was asking of my body, a plank of wood, some wheels, and gravity, I would experience complete ego disintegration right before rupturing my testicles on a railing in some public park. Why oh why can’t you take me back to the good ol’ days of extreme-with-a-capital-TREME sports, EA Canada. Why can we not head back to the mountain for some good times with a new SSX, the awesomest fake snowboarding game of all time? SSX 4 showed up on a few release lists back at the end of 2006, right around the time that the Xbox 360 was ending its first year and just before the release of the Playstation 3. These were the systems said to be home for such a wonderful sequel. Alas, that game was never ever officially announced and has failed to materialize since. A sort of remix of SSX 3, SSX: Blur, came out for Wii in March 2007 and it remains the single most frustrating game I have played in my entire life. Read More... Posted Feb 23 2009, 07:30 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: playstation 3, ea, microsoft, xbox 360, where is, sony, burnout paradise, criterion games, dj atomika, skate, skate 2l john Constantine, ssx 4, ea Canada, ssx, ssx blur

• Where Is the PSP?

  I am a superstitious man. I throw salt over my shoulder and knock on wood. I refuse to cross paths with black cats, something that is difficult when you share an apartment with one. When wandering about Manhattan, with its many scaffolding-covered building fronts, I am occasionally paralyzed by an all-consuming fear of the literal hundreds of ladders I pass beneath every day! I also know to not buy videogame consoles on launch day. If I do, I know that I will never play that many games for that device that looked so tempting before I actually had it. It all started with the Dreamcast, a system I adored, but I maybe owned a total of ten games for before its ignoble death (almost all of them published by Sega themselves). Two years out from its release, and it looks like the same is happening with Wii, a system that I turn on to play Gamecube games for more often than actual Wii discs. And then there’s the PSP. Oh, I was excited by that little monster when it came out back in early 2005. So excited, I decided it was a good idea to wake up at 6 AM on release day to pick one up, along with copies of Lumines and Ridge Racer. I played both pretty extensively for a month and then didn’t turn on the machine again until December of 2006. Now I’m not saying there aren’t good games for the PSP. One of the six games I’ve ever purchased, Zoe Mode’s absolutely astounding Crush would make my top fifty games ever made. But it’s hard to deny that the handheld takes up almost zero space in the collective consciousness of gaming broadly. Read More... Posted Nov 25 2008, 06:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, nintendo, wii, psp, where is, sony, sega, parasite eve, dreamcast, crush, kingdom hearts, scea, patapon 2, prinny can I really be the hero, disgaea, birth by sleep, the 3rd birthday, locoroco 2

• Where is… Oh Wait, Hydrophobia’s Right Here!

  Where Is, as a feature, is typically reserved for those games and individuals who fall through the cracks of gaming history, those curiosities that were born briefly into the public eye and then disappeared into the digital ether, never to be seen again. It was born in the hopes of seeing its respective subjects resurface, as if our patient musings might give them new life. Today’s a happy one though, since Hydrophobia, an intriguing action title that hasn’t been heard from since early 2007, has not only popped back up on the gaming radar, but has an imminent release date of March 2009. Read More... Posted Nov 14 2008, 05:30 PM by John Constantine with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, ken levine, bioshock, where is, blade interactive, bioshock 2, hydrophobia

• Where is Prototype?

  The open world game, or sandbox if you prefer, isn’t a genre any longer. At this point, it’s just another method of structuring other genres in a way that gives you more freedom in how to play the game. Open world games aren’t GTA clones anymore; they’re just games with a modern version of the ol’ Mega Man boss select screen. It’s been neat over the past couple of years to watch the open world platform branch out. Crackdown, Assassin’s Creed, Burnout Paradise, Far Cry 2, hell, Spider-Man; all very different games that let you do whatever the hell you please in their world (to a degree) on your way to completion. One of 2008’s more promising games, Radical Entertainment’s Prototype, is a violent action game with a nice open world foundation. It looks gruesome and brutish but it also has some neat ideas behind it, particularly its brand of character customization. Alex Mercer, the genetically altered amnesiac protagonist with a spooky past, eats his felled foes and gains all of their characteristics, abilities, and memories. This lets you come up with all sorts of horrific, bombastic ways to destroy things but it also lets you blend in with crowds, a nice twist on the open world formula of manipulating hordes of NPCs. Sounds cool, no? Read More... Posted Oct 29 2008, 07:30 PM by John Constantine with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, where is, mega man, grand theft auto, sierra, activision, burnout paradise, far cry 2, crackdown, radical entertainment, assassin’s creed, prototype, spider-man

• Where is Shuichi Sakurazaki, Creator of Ninja Gaiden?

  While they might not be rock stars quite yet, it’s great that videogame developers are becoming more and more recognizable by name. Many, many people know who Hideo Kojima is and what Kojima Prodcutions makes. Sega didn’t just contract Platinum Games to make a few killer titles for them, they signed them on for the name recognition, for the artists’ cred. Back in the day, it wasn’t the people who created games that got recognized. It was only franchise names and publishers that got the love. In 2008, it’s widely known that Tomonobu Itagaki is the head honcho behind Ninja Gaiden. But who is the brain behind Ninja Gaiden on the NES? After doing a bit of digging, I found that Ninja Gaiden and its first sequel were designed by a fellow named Shuichi Sakurazaki and Tecmo’s Team Strong. The game’s trademark cutscenes, arguably the first of their kind, were penned by Sakurazaki himself. But that’s where the information trail ends, with nary an interview with or a Wikipedia page on the man to be found. I found only two other games credited to Sakurazaki, and surprising ones at that. Read More... Posted Aug 27 2008, 01:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, where is, ninja gaiden, klonoa, tecmo, namco, shuichi sakurazaki, tomonobu itagaki

• Where is Yasunori Mitsuda?

  Chrono Trigger is coming to the DS this holiday season, and we should all be happy.  If it were any other game, Square-Enix would be lambasted for bringining such a quick-and-dirty full-priced port (plus the typical five-dollar "Square tax") to its brainwashed fans, but this is Chrono Trigger.  Since the game has basically been out of print for 13 years, and available only as a gimped PS1 port for seven of those years, it's nice to hear that we'll get a legal, playable version of Chrono Trigger without a dead save battery and sans loading times.  I don't know what pushed my through the Final Fantasy Chronicles version of the game, but I'm going to go ahead and blame September 11th. One of the nicer bits of news about Chrono Trigger DS is that the soundtrack--one of the best, technically and musically--has actually survived the transition; this is no small feat, what with Square-Enix's GBA remakes sounding both tinny and crunchy.  You can credit the greatness of Chrono Trigger's soundtrack to the SNES sound chip--which certainly was a great tool--but Yasunori Mitsuda deserves most of the acclaim for putting together one hell of a soundtrack.  And it was his first! But in the past few years, it seems like Mitsuda has been slumming by working exclusively on forgettable DS RPGs. This is something the needs to change. Read More... Posted Aug 20 2008, 11:30 AM by Bob Mackey with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: where is, chrono trigger, ds, yasunori mitsuda, bob mackey

• Where Is Landstalker PSP?

  The Zelda-clone, once a staple of console gaming, is a dying breed. It’s been replaced by story-centric, puzzle-free action RPGs like Kingdom Hearts and linear action-platformers a la Tomb Raider and Uncharted. The recently resurrected Okami might be the form’s swansong, a final tribute to the halcyon days of Golden Axe Warrior, Neutopia, and Beyond Oasis. While most clones have been base imitations, Quintet’s Heaven and Earth Trilogy and Climax Entertainment’s loosely connected series of games beginning with Landstalker were notable variations on Zelda’s exploration and puzzle tropes. Landstalker and its semi-sequels Lady Stalker (far less creepy than it sounds), Alundra (developed by ex-Climax-ers Matrix Software), and Time Stalkers (a traditional turn-based RPG instead of action) were characterized by difficult platforming in addition to swordplay. You see games made by Climax Entertainment as often as you see Zelda-clones nowadays. Read More... Posted Aug 07 2008, 02:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, nintendo ds, psp, where is, zelda, link, landstalker, Zelda clone, alundra, time stalkers, lady stalker, climax

• Where is Joe Madureira?

  If you read mainstream American comics in the 1990s, odds are you have an opinion on Joe Madureira. Controversially named by Wizard magazine as one of the ten most influential comic artists of all time (others on the list included Jack Kirby, Osamu Tezuka and Will Eisner), Joe's work on Marvel's Uncanny X-Men and his creator-owned Battle Chasers single-handedly launched the American manga craze that is still being felt today. He abruptly quit comics in 2001 to follow his dream of working in the video game industry. Not a whole lot has been seen of him since. Joe contributed to the all-around meh Playstation brawler Gekido, then worked on Tri-Lunar's Dragonkind, which vanished when the company went out of business. After several years of delays, Joe finally saw the release of a game with his direct influence in the 2007 PC MMORPG Dungeon Runners. Ever heard of any of those games? No, I didn't think so. Read More... Posted Jul 18 2008, 07:30 PM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with no comments Filed under: derrick sanskrit, legend of zelda, where is, gears of war, x-men, thq, e3, comics, darksiders, joe madureira

• Where is Wii's Disaster: Day of Crisis?

  The hardcore, the core gamer, the fanboy. Whatever you want to call them, it’s hard to ignore their bitterness toward Nintendo these days. I’m the first to admit that I’m one of them, but my frustration with the current king of the console hill doesn’t stem from their burgeoning commitment to the soccer mom set. It’s not even the lackluster treatment some of their core franchises (read: Zelda) have seen in the past two years. I’m angry at Nintendo because, when they first revealed the Wii and its initial line-up of games at E3 2006, they showed off two brand spanking new games, games devoid of Mario, Wario, Link, or any of the three thousand Pokemon, and neither of them have seen the light of day since. Project H.A.M.M.E.R., a fairly silly looking brawler, was actually playable at the time, but Nintendo announced that it was “on hold” as of summer 2007. Their other new IP, developed by fan-favorite studio Monolith Soft, was Disaster: Day of Crisis. Read More... Posted Jul 09 2008, 02:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, nintendo, wii, where is, pokemon, mario, e3, link, disaster day of crisis, project hammer, wario

• Where is Yu Suzuki?

  It’s no secret that Sega has changed. Since bowing out of the console business in late 2001, the one-time behemoth has become a prolific multi-console publisher but a shadow of their former selves, emphasizing a quantity of titles over quality. Who can blame them though? Creative game design may be Sega’s enduring legacy but it certainly didn’t line their pockets. They have abandoned their once eccentric impulses, favoring ancient franchises over new IP. This is no doubt thanks to their diminished in-house development and the exodus of some of their most talented auteurs, like Tetsuya Mizuguchi, Naoto Oshima, and Yuji Naka. Yu Suzuki, Sega’s most prolific and celebrated creator, remains with the publisher/developer to this day. Suzuki was responsible for many of Sega’s defining titles, Space Harrier and Out Run, as well as a pioneer of 3D gaming with his Virtua line of racing, shooting, and fighting games. But since the release Shenmue II, the second part of Suzuki’s wildly ambitious trilogy, he has all but disappeared as game maker. Read More... Posted Jun 19 2008, 11:00 AM by John Constantine with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, where is, sega, virtua fighter, yu suzuki, shenmue

• Where is The City of Metronome?

  Back in 2005, Swedish developer Tarsier came to E3 with a big game they’d been cooking up called The City of Metronome. Metronome, even three years later, remains a visual feast, its faceless characters, early 20th century fashion, and twisting cityscape sitting somewhere between Edward Gorey and Pixar, Ralph Bakshi and Alex Proyas’ Dark City. Tarsier had also created an exciting foundation for play in Metronome; every action was based around sound. A player could control the city’s citizens, alter architecture, and even fight using sounds recorded in the game. And recording wasn’t just a clever twist on item collection either, as the player could create their own noise to record by interacting with the world (breaking glass, having a conversation, etc.) Few games in the past five years have been as conceptually exciting or strange as Metronome. Read More... Posted Jun 11 2008, 10:00 AM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, bioshock, where is, Playstation, city of metronome, psn, take-two, tarsier

• Where Is the New Indiana Jones?

  Euphoria, a physics engine created by developer NaturalMotion, has been popping up all over the place lately. To clarify, a physics engine is a piece of software that simulates real-world physics in a game. Euphoria specifically creates realistic animation for game characters on the fly, as opposed to the hand crafted animations traditionally used for computer generated characters. Euphoria is used in Grand Theft Auto 4 - when you see Niko’s body getting thrown about in a sickeningly convincing way, it’s Euphoria at work. The engine is also featured prominently in the much publicized, poorly-titled upcoming Star Wars game, The Force Unleashed. It’s a little distressing, however, that Euphoria’s intended debut has gone AWOL. I’m referring of course to LucasArts’ untitled Indiana Jones project. Read More... Posted Jun 03 2008, 10:00 AM by John Constantine with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, playstation 3, star wars, xbox 360, where is, PC, Grand theft auto 4, indiana jones, lucasarts, euphoria

• Where is Doug TenNapel?

  Written by Derrick Sanskrit Over the past few years, I've become convinced that Doug TenNapel is one of the most enviably original dudes in the history of mankind. The man has been the creative voice behind some of the most original animation (Catscratch), graphic novels (Creature Tech), films (Sockbaby – Watch it. You will love it.), and video games (The Neverhood) in recent history. He won an Eisner Award (the top honors for comic book creators) for his work on Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror! But his most famous creation is the quirklicious Earthworm Jim. He designed the characters, wrote the story, even voiced Jim himself in the first two games. In the past two years, more or less since the disintegration of the Earthworm Jim PSP remake, Doug's disappeared from the world of games. So where's he been? Read More... Posted May 22 2008, 12:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: derrick sanskrit, psp, where is, the neverhood, earthworm jim, creature tech, sockbaby, simpsons, screw attack, catscratch, doug tennapel

• Where is Victor Ireland?

  As with any art form, videogames have their share of notable people and subjects that fall through the cracks of time. Trends fade, voices go quiet, and games that were seemingly complete disappear entirely. 61 FPS’ Where Is? feature asks where the lost have gone. Anime-styled Japanese games, particularly RPGs, are a dime a dozen on store shelves these days. Though they’ve been a staple of gaming in the United States since the mid-‘80s, there was a time when only a select few of them made the Pacific jump and even fewer of them made it over without being heavily censored and altered to suit more western tastes. Working Designs was one of the few companies out there devoted to faithfully localizing quirky Japanese titles and was a fan-favorite throughout the 1990s. Read More... Posted May 15 2008, 11:00 AM by John Constantine with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, where is, rpg, victor ireland, working designs