Saturday, May 28, 2011

New Games

New Games

Contest: Win two passes to E3 2011 and Nyko gear!

Posted: 28 May 2011 01:00 PM PDT

Contest: Win two passes to E3 2011 and Nyko gear! screenshot

We're doing it again! We've teamed up with Nyko to get one lucky person two passes to E3 and a ton of Nyko products! The grand prize winner will receive two passes to E3 and all of these Nyko accessories for the Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and 3DS:

  • Wii: Wand+, Charge Station (Black), Wireless Nunchuck, Wireless Sensor Bar, Perfect Shot
  • PS3: Charge Base 2, Raven, Charge Station for Move, Skill Shot, Intercooler Slim
  • 360: Intercooler STS, Charge Base S, Power Kit 360, Power Pak Black 
  • 3DS: Charge Base (includes the Power Pak+ replacement battery and charging dock)

Two runner-ups will win one Nyko product of your choice for any system (based on availability).

To enter, we want you to submit photo or video of yourself, pet, friend, mom -- whatever living thing you want -- holding a Nyko product or Nyko logo. You have complete creative freedom (keep it safe for work) to even create something that resembles the Nyko logo (like macaroni art, for example.) Whatever you create has to be a real thing too, so no photoshopping/editing is allowed! Your submission must also include something related to Destructoid (a simple printout of our logo will work) so we know your submission was created recently.

The more creative your submission, the better your chances are at winning as we'll be picking the best submission to give the prizes to. You have until June 1 at 11:59AM CST to submit your entry in the comments below and contest is open to US residents only. Note: Nyko is only providing the passes and Nyko products. Travel and accommodations will have to be on you. Good luck!

Gears of War 3 official campaign reveal trailer

Posted: 28 May 2011 12:00 PM PDT

Gears of War 3 official campaign reveal trailer screenshot

Oh yes, now you're showing me the shit I wanna see, Epic! 

This is the official "reveal" trailer for Gears of War 3's campaign mode. Some people (fools) like to think Gears doesn't have a campaign worth noting. I say it's the reason I started liking the series, and the third game looks set to have a hot one!

The video shows off loads of grunting, monsters, and explosions, all set to "War Pigs." I've got a boner now.

Like, a significant one.

Amnesia 'Scare To Care' fundraiser streaming this weekend

Posted: 28 May 2011 11:00 AM PDT

Amnesia 'Scare To Care' fundraiser streaming this weekend screenshot

Two brothers, Tim and Vernon Shaw, are holding an Amnesia charity marathon this weekend and will be streaming it on Ustream. What sets this apart from the typical gaming marathon fundraiser? They will play it while people will try to scare them in real life!

Vernon will play on Saturday while his brother Tim and a couple of volunteers will try to scare him in real life, creating life-long trauma and possible stream hilarity. The next day, the tables are turned and Vernon will get to act out his revenge while his brother is playing. The brothers are also donating $0.25 for every time they swear while playing the game.

All donations will go to Camp Kesem, a camp for children of cancer patients that allows them to escape their troubles for a week. The stream starts at 6 PM Pacific Time on both days (two hours from now). For more information about the fundraiser, check out their website.

And if you need more fundraiser streams this weekend, 8WayRun.com is helping out GameDay -- a fundraising event for the International Video Game Hall Of Fame & Museum -- with a weekend-long stream over here.

Weekend Destructainment: Nude gaming parties!!!

Posted: 28 May 2011 10:00 AM PDT

Weekend Destructainment: Nude gaming parties!!! screenshot

This nude gaming party IS TOTALLY NOT A PROMOTIONAL THING FOR SOME GIANT CONTROLLER ADAPTER THING.

More Mortal Kombat tryouts, a bad moment from Spider-Man's career, a rad music video, the Zelda themed on tesla coils, Star Fox stage play, a L.A. Noire run, brentalfloss jams, an awesome Fallout: New Vegas easter egg and a Portal 2 cover make up Weekend Destructainment.

Some more Mortal Kombat secret character tryouts.



A failed moment in Spider-Man's career. Spotted on Reddit.



Really rad music video from Goldfish that has a load of retro references.



The Legend of Zelda theme played on tesla coils. Spotted on GoNintendo.



A Star Fox stage play.



It takes 40 minutes to run from one end of L.A. Noire to the other. I love knowing this type of stuff. Thanks, Neil!



brentalfloss makes some videogame endings better.



Two bears high fiving made it into Fallout: New Vegas! Thanks, Holly!



Laura Shigihara does the Portal 2 ending.

What happened to the Summer drought of gaming?

Posted: 28 May 2011 09:00 AM PDT

What happened to the Summer drought of gaming? screenshot

Gaming seasons can be as fickle as Scarlett O'Hara. In the past four years, we've seen Call of Duty take over a dominant position in the traditional Christmas season where all the big titles used to come out. Following that juggernaut's success -- for better or worse -- we've seen publishers move their AAA titles out of the way (Mass Effect 2), not give a damn (Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood), or even confront the competition (Battlefield 3).

After Red Dead Redemption became last year's May success story for Rockstar -- at the cost of Alan Wake -- who are probably hoping for similar success with the May release of L.A. Noire, this year publishers moved their titles ahead of schedule (Brink) or pushed them to June for "polishing reasons."

Suddenly, a new "pre-summer" season of games has been created. But what goes on behind the scenes of the game industry? Why May and June, traditionally months that were avoided because of the Summer vacation period? What happened to the Summer drought of years past? Analyst Jesse Divnich, EEDAR's Vice President of Capital Research & Communications, offers his insights on the matter.



May Delay
So what about those delays? We've seen Duke Nukem Forever and Dungeon Siege III slip for polishing reasons, but is that just marketing speak for not wanting to release a game in Rockstar's shadow?

Divnich: "Good  question. The primary reason behind the May delays is nearly entirely due to fears of L.A. Noire.  Rockstar has done a superb job in scaring away the competition, and the fact that Duke Nukem Forever, another title by Take-Two [Take-Two owns 2K Games and Rockstar - Ed.], has been delayed, speaks a lot to the expectations from Rockstar.

"Additionally, Rockstar has put a lot of effort into capturing the attention of consumers well before L.A. Noire's release. Not only has this increased the game's awareness, but it pushed away the competition.  I'd argue that all these delays because of Rockstar's aggressive pre-release campaign will likely contribute more sales to L.A. Noire than the increase in consumer awareness. What else is there to buy?"



Indeed, what else has there been this past month? Brink so far appears to have failed to live up to its expectations, and while The Witcher 2 is a major and highly anticipated title, it's also a Western RPG exclusive to the PC and targeted to an adult and hardcore audience -- not exactly L.A. Noire's target audience. So what's so special about the month May? According to Divnich, not that much.

Divnich: "While in years past the summer months have been a rather slow time for video games, over the last two years it hasn't and I believe the industry as a whole has grown to learn that it really doesn't matter what month you launch in.  Whether in April or August, any game has the potential to turn into a blockbuster.  There is no sound statistical evidence to suggest that the release month can negatively impact one's title.  Rather, it has to do with dozens of other factors, one them being competition.
 
"What is humorous, however, is how numerous publishers were all planning for a May release date over a year ago. Why? Because Red Dead Redemption completely owned the market, and the bean counters of the world ran the data and said "Hey, look! May can support a big AAA release!"  And that is the problem with using historical data in combination with bean counters who have no clue on how the industry operates.   Any month can support a blockbuster release! It is not the month that determines a game's success, but rather the game itself."



Attuned to June
I think most of us agree that the month a game is released in doesn't bother us much. If anything, we have less time during the Christmas season to spend on gaming. And those "Day one!" games we crave? We never care when they come out. The sooner the better, as long as it doesn't come at the cost of quality.

But with all the slips into June it has created a big list of promising big titles that, instead of competing with L.A. Noire, are now competing against each other. inFAMOUS 2, Red Faction: Armageddon, Duke Nukem Forever, Alice: Madness Returns, Dungeon Siege III, Hunted: The Demon's Forge, F.E.A.R. 3, Child of Eden and possibly Shadow of the Damned. Quite a list, but is it likely to cause problems for publishers to bunch it all up in June?

Divnich: "The competition in June is stiff, there is no hiding that, but I don't particularly see any of June's release becoming so large that it will hinder the rest of the market. I believe inFAMOUS 2, Red Faction, Duke Nukem, and Alice will produce adequate sales relative to their quality and their marketing campaign.

"Let's assume that there is 3 to 4 million units in potential for the sum total of all new releases, worldwide in June. If Alice was the only title to be released in June, would it garnish the entire 4 million unit potential? Likely not. If it was L.A. Noire? Possibly. At the end of the day I just have to ask myself, where is the limit between the maximum amount of units that are available, and the combined potential of all new releases. Sometimes that limit is met, often it is not."



Of course, not all of June's games are similar nor do they target the same audiences. When it comes to analysis, a great deal of attention is devoted to a game's features and target audience for its selling potential. In that respect, you could say that F.E.A.R. 3 and Duke Nukem Forever share a lot of similarities, but I don't think anyone expects Alma to beat the iconic and long awaited return of the Duke in terms of sales. Yet Hunted and Dungeon Siege III do share a lot of similar features depending on how you look at it: both games are action RPGs  with a focus on story progression, loot, exploration and co-op. How might that affect those games' success?

Divnich: "With respect to Hunted and Dungeon Siege III, while they do share similar core features, one title is targeting the console consumer (Hunted), the other the PC consumer. While some overlap exists between console and PC gamers, I don't believe it is significant enough to impact each other's sales.  Additionally, quality is a huge factor. If one title achieves significantly higher praise from critics, that adds an additional differentiation feature. Or in other words, if all features are the same between two games, the one with the higher review score typically wins.
 
"We've seen this when Modnation Racers, Blur, and Split/Second were all released within 2 weeks of each other and each had review scores within 3 points of each other. The end result was a three-way slice of the total available sales within the Racing genre. If just one title achieved "breakout" status in terms of quality, the end result would have played out entirely different."

To be fair, both action RPGs are multiplatform titles but that doesn't mean the audience is on all platforms. Dungeon Siege III did make a big jump towards a more of a Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance type of "console" style, but it's still an old PC franchise. Hunted however looks and plays like a console game.

Hopefully we won't get a repeat of the Modnation Racers-Blur-Split/Second disaster, because look where those studios are now. Bizarre Creations was closed this year (Blood Stone probably didn't help) while Black Rock Studios suffered major layoffs and saw attempts at a Split/Second sequel shot down by Disney Interactive. And United Front Games, developers of Modnation Racers? They were working on the now-cancelled True Crime: Hong Kong.



But what about The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D? Will such a popular title affect June sales of console titles, even though it is on a handheld that hasn't really gone wild with sales to date? Or will it be affected by the other console titles? Maybe we like to go on vacation in the summer, and what do we take with us? A handheld, of course. And a partner or spouse, maybe.

Divnich: "There isn't a strong overlap between the handheld and home console markets. Very few consumers forgo buying one type of game over another. I don't have any cause for concerns for Zelda as it faces little competition within the handheld sector.
 
"Correct, the summer months are typically when consumers take vacations and the June release date for Zelda is surely not coincidental. I believe Zelda will provide a significant boost to the 3DS platform, both in awareness and in hardware sales."



Is July a month to Gamefly?
As busy as June is for big releases, July is looking absolutely barren. We have, what, Dynasty Warriors Gundam, a new Earth Defense Force game and a couple of movie games? If there is any sort of total game sales ceiling per month, how does July factor into that? Will people buy some June games in July? Will they just rent some games for the (short) singleplayer campaign if they don't care about multiplayer, or trade them in for the other games they couldn't afford -- or play -- at the same time?

Divnich: "Game replay value and length do play a huge factor in what we call "tail sales" (how a title performs after its initial launch). This primarily stems from unconscious word-of-mouth marketing as we tend to purchase games that our friends are playing. In the simplest terms, the longer I play Call of Duty, the more it unconsciously send a reminder message to all my friends that A) Call of Duty is a good game and B) Call of Duty exists. [If you doubt this effect, consider how many people you see using Netflix on Xbox Live at any time of the day if you live outside of North America - Ed.]
 
"Making a game exist is INCREDIBLY important.  As consumers, we are bombarded with thousands of ways to spend our discretionary dollar, to the point where applying any proper due diligence (researching all the available options) becomes too cumbersome. Instead, we generally gravitate towards what our friends (and those that influence) are doing. This explains the long-term success of games like World of Warcraft and Farmville. If a stranger asked us for recommendations on what games to buy, we are far more likely to recommend a game we are currently playing or one we just finished than a great game from a year ago."

With regard to these word-of-mouth effects, perhaps there's also something to be said in favor of the second hand market from an industry perspective. Sure, you miss out on that revenue as a publisher. But people are still playing your game and influencing their peers (positively or negatively) about the game's existence. Perhaps some of those peers will even end up buying a retail copy.



We've seen that most publishers have evaded L.A. Noire's May release like the plague and moved to June for safety. And we'll have to see how all the June games will do in their battle royale marketing push for attention. But why don't publishers just spread titles out over all the months? It would be easier for us to afford and play their games, and not everyone goes on vacation every year. Some of us might sit at home, being bored without anything to play. At least, when we still had that Summer drought of gaming.

Divnich: "I wish publishers would spread titles out more. Unfortunately, there are two factors at play. First, publishers must meet financial goals for their investors. These goals are given on a quarterly basis.  It is for that reason why we see March, June, and September have a plethora of releases. It simply represents that last possible month a publisher can release a game to declare any revenue in that quarter (publishers declare revenue on what the retailers take in, not on what the consumers buy).
 
"Second, there is this assumption that the late June through August months are horrible time frames for a release in Europe because that is when everyone takes their "vacations." Personally, I call total BS on that as all our prior research indicates that games launched in the summer in Europe succeed just as well if released in another month. Of course, if a publisher does choose to release a game in July, that means no one in their European division can take vacation… so you can see how some employees may not have their employer's best interest in mind."



The pre-summer season in review
So what caused the sudden May/June influx of releases? As you have seen, it's a mix of effects. One part quarterlies, one part industry realization that the Summer drought is actually not a some mystical period of doom to release in, and one part of Rockstar's influence on the Q2 release landscape after Red Dead Redemption's success.

Should we be happy with this as consumers? I don't know. One the one hand, we get more and bigger games throughout the year compared to, say, five years ago. On the other hand, if May had nothing that interested you and you happen to like 4 or 5 of June's games, you're simply out of luck in May and possibly lacking in time come June. At least we're not getting three racing games in the same month again, or something like Q1 2010's Bayonetta-Darksiders-God of War Collection-God of War 3 action game months. Remember the millions of times we pressed X & Y or Square & Triangle in that period?

With The Witcher 2 and L.A. Noire at the midway point in May, we've had two good 20+ hour games that are targeted at completely different audiences. June has something for everybody, and we can't complain about having too many games after having complained about a lack of games to play in the Summer for years.

Then again, it will be interesting to see how things will go on the sales front. Different marketing methods will affect the mainstream consumers, but what about the hardcore? When it comes to raising awareness, most of the major titles have had all kinds of trailers, video featurettes, dev diaries and screenshots thrown at us. And we are an Internet-savvy audience, so yeah we get exposed to all of that. But June also has one other thing: E3.



E3 throws even more teasers, trailers, and previews in our faces about games that may not even come out next year, yet we as "core gamers" are just as fickle as the gaming seasons of the past couple of years. We see something new and shiny that looks awesome, and even if it ends up being mediocre we'll be exposed to it and perhaps keep an eye on it in the future.

Because that's who we are, we love new video games and especially the kind that excite us and allow us to fill in the gaps about what they are actually going to be like. We talk to our peers about new announcements and share our expectations and hopes. And if said game comes out and disappoints? No matter, because we have a couple of dozen new announcements to fill that void every month.

But does that interfere with being exposed to other marketing campaigns or the gaming news we read online? Not really. We know what games we're interested in, most of the time. And when something slips under our radar, we usually pick up on it a week or so before release. However, does all of that interfere with actively processing information about new releases and does it affect our intent to buy them?

As Divnich mentions, raising awareness for a game is all-important if you want it to actually sell. But how do people react to over-exposure to upcoming games down the line when there are games coming out in the same month? The mainstream audience may not follow the gaming news as much, but what about the core gamers? While I doubt any of us are going to pass on something like Duke Nukem Forever if we've been looking forward to it for over 10 years, most of us can't afford all of the June titles and all of the Q4 titles.

The more big games get announced and the more we learn about AAA titles in Q4 we were already interested in, perhaps it will make us go: "Well, Hunted and Alice look cool but I'll just wait for a pricedrop, rent it, or grab it secondhand. That way I can play it and still afford to buy Skyrim, Battlefield 3, Batman: Arkham City, Uncharted 3, and RAGE on day one."

Will E3 interfere with the carefully laid-out pre-launch marketing plans for the June games at the last moment? Will it have no effect on the fight for our cognitive resources when it comes to the games we want, mixed with the practical implications of whether or not we can afford them? And will the industry take heed to Divnich's claim that it doesn't matter what month you release in, as long as the game is great and the marketing campaign supports it properly?

Time will tell, but one thing is for sure: no longer are the months running up to the Summer holidays a time for us to only have game announcements and no games. The Summer drought is over, at least for this year. Let's hope that the June games don't all bomb, lest it once again scare publishers away from those months that can provide opportunity and entertainment for those attuned to the gamer's mind. And if their June 2011 adventure does shy publishers away from doing the same in 2012, that just offers a golden opportunity for the indies to fill the gap.

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Earthworm Jim creator ... no friend to gay people?

Posted: 28 May 2011 08:00 AM PDT

Earthworm Jim creator ... no friend to gay people? screenshot

Earthworm Jim creator Doug TenNapel is, apparently, a living parody of American bigotry. Recently, the artist made several amazing comments on the subject of Christianity, gay marriage, and why AMERICURRRR is the best damn country in the world. 

When asked on what grounds he opposed gay marriage, TenNapel said, "The same argument I have against letting a man take a dump in the ladies room. And (sic) office appropriate for one sex isn’t automatically appropriate for another, no matter how much a man loves taking a dump in the ladies room."

Wow. 

According to TenNapel, freedom of religion and expression is a completely alien concept to Canadians and Europeans, and America is the best country in the world because it's 78.5% Christian. This is the kind of outrageously stupid shit I get to see in local opinion columns and TV shows out here in Mississippi on a regular basis. 

Whether he thinks he's being funny or not, Gay Gamer ain't laughing, and I'm inclined to agree with them. It's pretty sad to see such miserable opinions, especially from an otherwise talented guy, but gay people don't need to be angry about it. Gay marriage is going to happen anyway, because nobody, no matter how much they claim to have a deity on their side, can stop the march of social progress forever. 

LGBT campaigners are fighting a fight they can only win. Their efforts determine the when, not the if. And that is, to quote Earthworm Jim, Grooooovy. 

Contest: Fight.Destructoid.com 48 hr point challenge!

Posted: 28 May 2011 07:00 AM PDT

Contest: Fight.Destructoid.com 48 hr point challenge! screenshot

The great thing about Fight.destructoid.com is that it gives us a brand new way to give away prizes. So here's another contest! This time, we will be holding a 48 hour point challenges for the chance to win either this Razer Anansi MMO Keyboard, or a copy of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings for the PC!

Contest: Starting at the time of this post, you will have 48 hours to earn as many points as you can through challenging people to matches or tournaments in any game available on fight.destructoid.com, from the many sports titles, fighting games and even Starcraft II. The player who earns the most total points from the challenges or tournaments over this weekend will win the Razer Anansi Keyboard!

That's not all, because every match that you take part in earns you a chance to win the copy of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings that we are also giving away! Will you play lots of battles betting small and and racking up the points, or will you go all out and wager most of your points at once? Its up to you!

Good luck, and let the games begin!

New to Fight? Read our getting started guide

 

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The emasculation of a father

Posted: 28 May 2011 06:00 AM PDT

The emasculation of a father screenshot

[Community member VenusInFurs writes up a great post about Silent Hill: Shattered Memories and the themes of masculinity and its destruction. What other games have these sorts of themes? Want to see your own writing on the front page? Write something awesome and put it in the C Blogs. -- Kauza]

Emasculation is, by definition, the castration of a man, but this castration has gotten less literal and more metaphorical in our generation. Emasculation now means to make a male feel less of a man by humiliation. In other words, you weaken a man by treating him as if he were a woman. You take the machismo away from him. You leave him naked in the middle of a crowded street. You show his wounds to the world. I’m not interested in the physical pain of castration, but more of the mental. We live in a world where to be a man means to be powerful, confidante, a sex machine, etc.

You, my lovely reader, have heard it all before, but I would argue that men, unlike women, are more sensitive, more affected by emotional pain, more prone in the act of giving up than most woman are. Now, what is the connection between castration and video games? Please, continue reading for the answer. 

Silent Hill: Shattered Memoires (SH:SM) is a study of the male psyche. The game takes a look at what defines a male and shatters those ideas. It’s game about emasculation. It’s a game that I and many men can relate to. It’s a game only men can fully understand. 

As most of you know by now, I always start my blogs with a personal experience then work my way up to how the video game in question relates to my experience. This will be no different, except this; out of everything I’ve written this is something I hold dear to my heart. Get ready for some heavy stuff. 

I never associated with anyone. I even avoided speaking, and shrank more and more into my corner. At work, in the office, I even tried not to look at anyone, and I notice very well that my colleagues not only considered me an odd man, but seemed to look at me with a certain loathing. 

- Fyodor Doestoevsky 

How can I understand women when I don’t understand myself. 

- Kunt Hamsun 

What the fuck does it mean to be a man! How the fuck do I talk to a women! They all fucking ignore me! 

- Charles Bukowski 

Those are some quotes from my favorite authors. I always felt I was alone in my thinking until I discovered their work. As a child I spent more time at home than outside with friends. Even now, I still have fear of the outside world. I try to go out and meet people, and I have had some success, but I always get this uneven feeling when I’m out at a restaurant or bar -- a feeling of not belonging. A feeling of not being myself. 



A couple of weeks ago I commented on the Japanese trailer for Catherine on Youtube. I said, “Wow, this game looks amazing! It’s too bad I don’t have a PS3, but when I do get one, Catherine will be the first game I get!” I made the comment late at night, and quickly fell asleep. The next day I received a response that said, “You’re a virgin fa**ot loser who probably j**ks off to anime. Why do you want to play this game? You’re a pervert. Go back and j**k off to cartoons again you loser.” Now, how do I respond to a message like this? I could have just ignored it, but I didn’t. My reply: “Why do you have to insult me?” I’m not going to post our entire conversation, but the user never stopped insulting me and continued to call me a virgin fa**ot (both of which is untrue), but I kept my cool and never insulted the user back.

From experience, books, and people I’ve known, I have come to the conclusion that when a man acts like that it’s because they’re unhappy; something is not going well in their lives. It could be a lack of sex, the wanting of a significant other, or something else, but the question of emasculation always comes up. Did this user act this way because of what a perception of a man is? Does he think it’s all about sex? Is he disappointed because of the lack of experience he had, or is he just an assh*le? Whatever the reason is, there is no denying that there are people who act this way because they don’t fit the worlds perception of what a man is. 

Last semester in school, my classmates and I decided to go to a bar/club to celebrate the end of the semester. I didn’t want to go, but went just to socialize. We arrived at the bar and everything went fine. I got myself a glass of water (I hate alcohol). Some of the girls with us ordered water as well, but apparently it’s okay if a woman orders water, but its different story when a man does. My classmates made fun of me because of it and I laughed it off.

We continued to talk and laugh, then the guys started to brag about how many girls they had sex with. I really don’t know why they decided to this, but I am an open person -- I don’t hide anything -- and I told them I only had sex with people I’ve had relationships with. I told them this and they all laughed. I said I’m not closed to the idea, but the opportunity never opened up to me (things have change now). They didn’t care for my excuse and just made fun of me, as if I was not man in their eyes .They made fun at how skinny my body is and how feminine my voice sounds. After all that, I decide to leave. The guys apologized to me, but with a big grin in their face. It’s easy to see they didn’t mean it. I left the bar and never spoke to them again. During my walk home I was reminded why most of my friends are women. 



Before I start to talk about SH:SM, I would like to mention the Silent Hill movie. SH:SM is a remake of the first game, and to be honest, they’re completely different. The movie, unlike the game, changed the protagonist from a man to a woman. I find this interesting. Why can’t a mainstream film show a man who is scared? Why can’t a mainstream film show a man who is insecure? Why is it okay if a woman show those feeling, but not a man? I think fans of Silent hill know exactly what I’m talking about. It seems that it’s okay to show a weak woman on the big screen, but change the sex and it suddenly becomes “unrealistic.” It’s something that bothered me throughout the film and I thought it deserved a mention here. 

Silent Hill:Shatterd Memories is, in the humble opinion of your faithful writer, the definition of an adventure game. The game has no action whatsoever. Story and exploration is all you do. There are hours of you walking into a school and just exploring the area – no monsters, no blood, just exploration in its purest sense. The immersion the game offers is unlike anything I ever played. The story is one of originality and truth. 



SH:SM deals with a father looking for his daughter in a snow storm. Every character he encounters are women; women who are stronger than him; women who help him out; women with confidence. SH:SM is filled with sexual imagery, but it’s not exploitative; there’s meaning behind it. When Harry, the father, looks at a poster of a sexy girl, the game reads that and determines what ending you’re going to get. I will try not to spoil anything, but this game has some of the most disturbing writing I’ve ever witness in a video game. Subjects like molestations are out into play in this game in a big way.

Actually, at one point you receive a message from a man asking a women to put on a “little girls dress” and pretend she’s a kid. There is a therapy session in between each level, and during these sessions you're asked to answer a series of questions. I answered each of these questions truthfully, as if I was Harry. I answered truthfully to questions like: Have you ever cheated? Were you popular in school? Are you depressed and lonely? I must note that depending on the ending you get, you may come up with a different conclusion than I have, but isn't that the fun of video games? Your actions in the therapy sessions and in the games world determine the type of ending you get. 

The game has a number of endings and depending on your actions; you can get a “good” ending, “bad” ending, or something different all together. The ending I got was something that shocked me. Something that made me think; something that told me that this game was truly about emasculation. I will now present you with the ending I got during my first play-through. Please, if you have not played the game, I still encourage you to watch the video. This 1 minute video explains what I’m trying to say. 

I don’t know about you guys, but this ending moved me. I felt for Harry. I understood him. Its bad enough I spoiled one ending for you guys, but I refuse to spoil anything else. The world of insecurity is painted on the walls of each level in this game. It presents a man who is scared; a man who doesn’t have all the answers -- Harry goes through what most men go through in their lives. He tries to find comfort in women, but doesn’t have the confidence to do so. He tries to be brave, but fails every time he does. He’s not some super hero. He’s represents the fear that all men have. He’s human. He’s no different than the characters I’ve read in some of my favorite novels. He, in many ways, is me. I applaud the developer for having the guts to present an entire game absent of any kind of combat and instead focus on the characters and their thoughts. This is truly a special game. 



We are always having discussions about how women are portrayed in games, but what about men? I'm sorry, but most men are not brave, handsome, sexy, or confident. It's refreshing to have a game that presents men in more of a realistic manner. 

It’s not every day you find a game you can relate to. For me, Braid and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories are the only games to affect me emotionally. I find it sad that this game didn’t get the recognition it deserves, but as the time passes, SH: SM is becoming more, and more of a cult classic. It is truly one of my favorite games of all time.

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Live Show: Two's company on Saturday Morning Hangover

Posted: 28 May 2011 05:00 AM PDT

Live Show: Two's company on Saturday Morning Hangover screenshot

It's ten in the morning on a Saturday. It's time to get your semi-consciousness on! Jordan is on vacation this weekend, so it's up to Katrina and I to take a gander at the week's Xbox Live Indie Games releases where I can guarantee that we will both groan and giggle. Afterwards, we'll team up to explore ancient ruins in Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light.

Come and join us for Saturday Morning Hangover. We're playing games and hanging out in the live chat right now over on Destructoid's Justin.tv channel!

Watch live video from Destructoid on Justin.tv

How many ways can Space Marine NOT rip off Gears of War?

Posted: 28 May 2011 02:30 AM PDT

How many ways can Space Marine NOT rip off Gears of War? screenshot

Earlier this week, Venture Beat landed itself in hot water with the gamer community after publishing the controversial article, "How Many Ways Can Space Marine Rip Off Gears of War?" The article accused Relic of copying Epic's shooter series, and the writer was utterly mauled by readers. 

He was mauled because, as every school boy knows, the Warhammer 40,000 aesthetic, setting, and characters predate Gears of War by a couple of decades. If anything, Epic owes a tip of the hat to Games Workshop, not the other way around. This situation is made worse by the fact that originally, the article only had ONE argument, which was basically, "The characters have muscles."

Destructoid decided to bring some balance. We sat down with Relic, the developers of Space Marine, to get their side of the story and find out how their game is different from Gears of War. If one person thought Space Marine was a Gears clone, others will think it too -- hopefully this article helps them!

No Cover System

Gears of War is a cover based shooter. What that means is that you don't run-and-gun, not if you want to survive. While there are instant-kill melee attacks, the main objective in any situation is to find something to hide behind and pop out of cover to shoot. This is exactly not what happens in Space Marine which, if anything, is a traditional third person shooter in that a cover system isn't used. 

Relic Says: "Everything in Space Marine has been built around delivering the core fantasy of being this powerful hero -- the combat system emphasizes forward momentum and encourages players to throw themselves into the fray confidently, where they can be most effective. 

"Space Marines are confident warriors with hundreds of years of training and fighting under their belts, powerful armour, and devastating weaponry at their disposal. They are conspicuous on the battlefield, inspiring fear in the hearts of their enemies, and hope in the hearts of the regular human fighters who pray to live long enough to witness a Space Marine in glorious battle.

"They do not take cover, they do not hide behind things to take pot-shots at their enemies. In fact, when the going gets tough and you find yourself in a situation where you’re taking a beating and other games would want you to back away and cower behind something while you recover, we give you tools to become even more aggressive – using vicious execution moves to harvest enemies for health. This way you are never out of the battle; you fight until all your enemies are dead.

"By bucking this current convention in 3rd person shooters, we are able to deliver a combat experience that is truly unique, emphasizing a strong sense of forward momentum, and confident mastery of the battlefield."

Melee Is Just As Important As Ranged Combat

Unlike Gears of War, Space Marine is just as focused on close-quarter combat as firefights. Yes, Space Marine features a Chainsword that resembles the Chainsaw Bayonet from Gears, but even that was invented by Games Workshop's tabletop game first. By using it, Relic isn't copying Gears of War, it's being faithful to the source material. Man, how many ways can Gears of War rip off Warhammer 40,000, am I right?

Relic Says: "In addition to having a full 3rd-person shooter combat model that is competitive with any other shooter out there, Space Marine boasts a robust 3rd-person melee combat experience as well. It’s the seamless blending between these two systems that sits at the heart of what makes Space Marine’s combat so unique, so fluid and dynamic, and again, delivering on this sense of powerful momentum. The seamless responsiveness of having these two combat systems at your disposal is a huge part of delivering that core fantasy of being one of the most highly trained, highly capable war machines in humanity’s history.

"Combining ranged and melee so seamlessly gives the combat and encounter styling of Space Marine its own flavour as well. Combat tends to happen in short-to-medium range setups, with players having full control over how they want to fight the battle. Melee is as viable as ranged in the vast majority of encounters, and fights tend to get very up close and personal. This adds to the intensity and fast-pace of the combat experience. You are making split-second decisions about which of the many tools in your arsenal, and which combat abilities, you’re going to use to fight the layers of enemies you face at any given point."

Hordes Of Enemies

From what we've seen of Space Marine, the game has more in common with hack n' slash titles and wave-based shooters than Gears of War and its small-scale, methodical, ranged warfare. Waves of Orks throw themselves at the player, and protagonist Captain Titus needs to keep moving and swinging his Chainsword in order to survive.

Relic Says: "Space Marine often surrounds you with hordes of enemies, especially when fighting Orks, our brutal animalistic mob-like enemy. We’ve built our technology so that we can throw over 30 highly-detailed enemies at you at any given time. This is core to our promise of presenting a compelling 'one vs. many' fantasy where you are constantly surrounding on all sides -- just as humanity is constantly surrounded at all sides by the brutal alien hordes -- and you dominate through skill and force of arms."

Games Workshop Created 40K In 1987, BITCH!

As we already pointed out, Warhammer 40,000 is several decades old. In fact, its dark n' gritty universe is probably responsible for influencing the vast influx of bleak, war-torn shooters we've had this generation, with Gears of War at the forefront. It's almost impossible to make a third-person Space Marine game that doesn't look like Gears, because Gears of War's visual style takes so much from Warhammer 40,000.

Relic Says: "The origin of Space Marine as a game, was to take an IP Relic has a great love for, and express it in a completely new way. This was to be from the point of view of one of the most iconic heroes of the IP -- the Space Marine. In 40k, this means something very specific -- it’s not at all a generic label. Delivering the fantasy of being this hero is what has driven all our decisions around combat, the aesthetic of the world and characters, details of how the characters look, move, speak, think, etc. Just like any vast and rich IP -- think of Lord of the Rings, or Star Wars -- there are many ways to express the core pillars of the setting. For the past eight years we’ve focused on delivering 40k from the point of view of the battlefield commander. With Space Marine, we’re giving you 40k from the point of view of having your boots on the ground, and feeling the blood on your face.

"Space Marines are 7’ tall superhuman warriors encased in conspicuous sanctified armour and carrying ancient but extremely powerful weaponry. They are masters of sword and gun, and this is what has informed all our decisions about the visual portrayal of the character, and the way our combat system works."

Aesthetics

As said above, Games Workshop created a visual style that has an undeniable influence on videogames, so to the (very) untrained eye, I can see how some random game calling itself Space Marine may look like a rip-off of Gears of War. Of course, it takes only a very small amount of digging to find out just how likely it is that you accused the wrong side of forgery. 

Even outside of that, though, the universe of the 41st Century is pretty damn different from Epic's world of Sera. 

Relic Says: "Warhammer 40,000 is a nearly 25-year old IP that comes with a very specific aesthetic styling. The architecture is vast and Gothic inspired, there is a techno-medieval aesthetic with technology and speech patterns, there is a sense of the great peril the humanity finds itself in through having billions of alien enemies on its doorstep, trying to snuff it out of existence.

"The portrayal of the world -- from our vast structures to epic landscapes, destroyed cities and mysterious research facilities – is all part of the way that we are bringing the rich 40k universe to life in a way it’s never been seen -- or experienced -- before. This is us being inspired by 25 yrs of incredible creativity, and adding our own flavor to bring this amazing and rich universe to a whole new audience, so that they can learn to appreciate it as much as we have."

So What Have We Learned?

Venture Beat made a mistake and updated the post to address the ton of comments arguing against the original assertion. The problem of such accusatory contrasts is not unique to the otherwise on-the-ball Venture Beat, however. 

Accusations of plagiarism and ripping off are pretty common among gamers, and such accusations are nearly always based on ignorance. It's the attitude that sees every first-person-shooter get compared to Halo and every action game compared to God of War. 

Sure, many games are inspired by other games. The cover system works, and thus has been incorporated into many shooters. Few action games are as brutal and heavy as God of War, so it's natural that it influenced the development of future titles. Inspired and ripped-off are two different concepts, and if you're going to throw the latter term around, you better treat it with respect and you need to bring more to the table than, "I just think they look a bit similar."

Otherwise you will end up writing an update that's longer the original article. 

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Brink's Agents of Change DLC detailed (loads of stuff!)

Posted: 28 May 2011 01:00 AM PDT

Brink's Agents of Change DLC detailed (loads of stuff!) screenshot

Bethesda has published details concerning Brink's first batch of downloadable content. We knew the first DLC would be free, so some people expected a few crappy costumes. Prepare to be surprised!

The Agents of Change pack features new maps, equipment, abilities and costumes, all for nothing. Here's what's on offer:

  • New Maps: Founder's Tower and Labs.
  • New Weapons Attachments: Bayonets and Weapon Shields.
  • New Outfits: The Sad Punk and The Limey.
  • New Abilities: UAV for Operatives, Napalm Grenade for Soldiers, Pyro Mine for Engineers, Field Regen Unit for Medics, Tactical Scanner for any class.
  • New Level Cap: Players can now take their characters to Level 24.

Well, you can color me impressed. The update is due to arrive some time in June.

[Thanks, Mash]

The Legend of Zelda timeline explained

Posted: 27 May 2011 06:00 PM PDT

The Legend of Zelda timeline explained screenshot

So there is a Legend of Zelda timeline. It's kind of hard to understand. This might help you understand.

The Daily Hotness: Metalocalypse

Posted: 27 May 2011 04:59 PM PDT

I've been really getting into Metalocalypse lately. I always kind of just wrote it off, but wow is this show funny. The music is pretty damn good too. The snippet above is currently my favorite track from them.

Chad tells us his E3 predictions on the latest episode of GTTV, Nick previewed Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, there's a Nvanicorn game and more happened on 5/27/11.

Destructoid Original:
New Destructoid Episode: E3 Preview Spectacular!
The Question: Does The Legend of Zelda need an overhaul?
Friday Night Fights: Bloody High Claw!!
The many splendid sides of PC gaming
E3 11: If you missed last night's episode of GTTV ...
Live show: Mash Tactics community picks
Live Show: Ratchet & Clank begins on Backlog!

Community:
Community blogs of 5/26/11
Forum thread of the day: Modern Warfare 3

Contests:
Razer Fight Pad contest winner announced!

Reviews:
Review: Dungeons And Dragons: Daggerdale

Previews:
Preview: Reckoning's combat sets it apart from the pack
I don't like football, but I like Backbreaker Vengeance

News:
ESRB reveals Zelda Universe (Update)
Rumortoid: NGP's RAM being cut to reduce price
Sony to no longer make PS3-like, expensive consoles
Video Games Live's 200th show in LA during E3
See 3DS game Mahjong Cub3D in action
SNES RPG Treasure of Rudra for JP Virtual Console
Sony: PSN attack was 'unlikely' because it was free
Amazon launches Mac game store, offers one free game
Game Informers's digital June issue free until May 30th
Shinobi 3DS trailer looks hot, hot, hot, hot! (Update)
Sony's game teaser site: A guy in the desert
Rock Band DLC: Ozzy spews from the mouth of hell
The Witcher 2 gets patched, removes DRM
Sony announces official wireless stereo headset for PS3
Mortal Kombat 'classic' DLC available June 7 for $4.99
The House of the Dead: Overkill - Extended Cut for PS3
Say prayers, eat vitamins, play Hulk Hogan Kinect game
Dead Space iOS updated with new mode, new weapon
GOG weekend sale has adventures and Raptor for 50% off
Your first arty glimpse of The Dark Eye - Demonicon
Mattel turns custom Smackdown vs. Raw character into toy
Infinity Ward shoots down Modern Warfare 3 co-op talk

Offbeat:
Go play Japan World Cup Vol. 2 right now
11.3 million player deaths in Just Cause 2 look like this
Nyanicorn is exactly what you think it is

Media:
The Phoenix Wright movie is legit, coming 2012
Alice defends herself in combat trailer
Have some balls-mental Shadows of the Damned screens
Take a gander at Dungeon Siege III's four characters
Futuremark teases three games, one looks like Freespace!
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning screens you can look at
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