New Games |
- The DTOID Show: Alan Wake's Mass House Party: The Movie
- HBO looking to turn Indie Game: The Movie into a TV show
- New Sniper Elite V2 videos are looking good
- Telltale's Law and Order gets its fourth case, more drama
- The Game OverThinker examines the future of piracy
- Official Mario and Zelda songbooks now available
- AT&T quietly updates PS Vita data plan pricing
- Capcom Digital Collection gearing up for release in March
- Warriors Orochi 3 releases March 20
- Live show: Kinect games and giveaways on Mash Tactics
- MS dates I Am Alive, Alan Wake, Warp++ and Nexuiz
- Review: Dustforce
- Preview: The philosophies of Street Fighter X Tekken
- Dead Space dev hiring for new online action shooter
- How Yorda's uselessness ruins agency in Ico
- An almost interview with the Indie Game: The Movie gang
- Office Chat: Final Fantasy panties, limited time Evil
- Jimquisition: Piracy Episode 1 - Copyright
- Bloggers Wanted: Location
| The DTOID Show: Alan Wake's Mass House Party: The Movie Posted: 23 Jan 2012 02:00 PM PST
Happy Monday! Hopefully you've all had enough time to adequately recover from your weekend by now... but if you think you can handle some more, why not crack open a beer and join us for tonight's episode of The Destructoid Show? Don't worry, we won't tell your mom/girlfriend/gym coach/AA sponsor. On today's show, Max announces the dates for Microsoft's upcoming House Party (which is in no way related to the hit 1990 film House Party), while I give some top-secret details on a few of Resident Evil 6's rumored multiplayer modes. Meanwhile, Alan Wake is finally heading to Steam in February, Mass Effect 3 is getting some action figures, and Indie Game: The Movie might be getting its own HBO series. In other news, this might be the first time I've successfully fit at least one word from every news story into the title of this post. I'm not exactly sure if I should be embracing that, but there it is nonetheless. |
| HBO looking to turn Indie Game: The Movie into a TV show Posted: 23 Jan 2012 01:00 PM PST "Wait, what?" That was the immediate reaction many of us had upon hearing HBO had acquired the rights to create a fictional, half-hour television series based off Indie Game: The Movie. Things worsened when Deadline described it as a comedy series, but the duo behind the documentary, Lisanne Pajot and James Swirsky, followed up by saying such a label was not accurate. Thankfully, this project -- which will be produced by Scott Rudin (The Social Network, Moneyball) -- isn't a sitcom. "The people involved, the network involved -- all are, BY FAR, the best people possible to make this show," wrote Lisanne and James. "We are ecstatic about the possibilities of working with this team. All you need to do is look at the list of HBO series titles & Scott Rudin's IMDB and you can see why we think this is a brilliant thing. We want to see this show happen. We want to watch this show." Sundance: HBO And Scott Rudin To Turn Docu 'Indie Game' Into Series [Deadline] |
| New Sniper Elite V2 videos are looking good Posted: 23 Jan 2012 12:30 PM PST
Back in 2005, a little game called Sniper Elite was released on the original Xbox, PS2 and PC. With a name as silly as that, many weren't expecting much from the third-person shooter which placed an emphasis on stealth. As many who decided to played Sniper Elite will tell you, however, the game was a blast and they've been looking forward to a sequel ever since; Sniper Elite V2 is that sequel. 505 Games has put out a new developer diary going into the game's stealth aspect, as well as showing off some incredible slow-motion bullet cam kills that can get incredibly gory. 505 has also released a new trailer for the game; funnily enough it ends with another look at just how graphic the bullet cam can get. As someone who never played the original game, the fact that these new gameplay and developer diary videos have me not only interested but wanting to see more is a very promising sign.
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| Telltale's Law and Order gets its fourth case, more drama Posted: 23 Jan 2012 12:00 PM PST DUM DUM Telltale has announced that the next case in their Law and Order: Legacies series, Nobody's Child, is now available on iOS devices. This new case explores the case of a child's body, discovered in an alley. You can expect a healthy dose of political intrigue along side disturbing example of abuse; hallmarks of the show. If you've already purchased the Law and Order: Legacies app, Nobody's Child is available via a simple in-app purchase. If you had the foresight to pick up the entire series for $12.99, you'll be given access to the content immediately or, if you've been putting off your dive in to the judicial drama you can get started with a $2.99 start-up fee. |
| The Game OverThinker examines the future of piracy Posted: 23 Jan 2012 11:30 AM PST If you visit The Escapist (which you should be doing anyway to check out Jimquisition!), you might have heard of Bob Chipman and his series Escape to the Movies and The Big Picture. Both are really good shows, but I much prefer his third, game culture-related show, The Game OverThinker. With strong writing and sound logic, Bob discusses a lot of gaming's major topics carefully and methodically. He's a lot more serious than other Internet pundits, yet he never fails to keep the listener engaged. Following last week's SOPA / PIPA drama, this week's episode touches on the issue of piracy in general and where we go from here. In contrast with Jim's strong opinion on the matter, Bob approaches the topic with a gentle but firm request to publishers. If publishers are so concerned over piracy, it's about time they adapt their business model to make piracy a non-issue. Piracy is never going to disappear, so the only option is to make piracy less convenient than legal channels. I've been a fan of The Game OverThinker for a good while, so I'm glad I finally realized that I could be sharing his material with you groovy cats. If you want to check out Bob's back catalog, visit his website or his ScrewAttack page. And if you aren't too hot on the skit portions of his shows... I won't blame you. The Game OverThinker - Episode 64 "Beyond SOPA" [ScrewAttack] |
| Official Mario and Zelda songbooks now available Posted: 23 Jan 2012 11:00 AM PST Get this: Japanese book and music stores have their own videogame sheet music sections. I've dropped hundreds of dollars picking up the full, official scores for my favorite videogames in Japan so that I could enjoy playing/learning them. But here in the west you're stuck importing or scanning someone else's books, as there's very little in the way of game sheet music to be found. Alfred Music Publishing is looking to remedy this with four new officially licensed Nintendo songbooks. Super Mario for Guitar, Super Mario for Piano, Super Mario for Easy Piano and The Legend of Zelda for Piano are now available. They're all reasonably priced at less than $20 each, available on Alfred Music Publishing's webstore right now. Joystiq says that the Super Mario and Zelda piano books are also available in ebook format on the iBookstore. I hope this keeps up, as there's tons of great game music scores that game-loving musicians would love to get their hands on. You need to hear my rendition of Persona 3's battle song, "Mass Destruction," on piano. Hilarious. The sheet music is the pride of my collection. |
| AT&T quietly updates PS Vita data plan pricing Posted: 23 Jan 2012 10:30 AM PST AT&T has changed some of the pricing for their 3G data plans for the PlayStation Vita, set to release next month. They first announced a 250MB a month plan for $14.99 and a 2GB a month plan for $25. The top plan now has a larger limit, 3GB, and a larger price tag, $30. If you're going to get a 3G model, at these prices it seems silly to get the 250MB plan. You're getting several times the data allowance for double the money. Thankfully both plans include complimentary AT&T Wi-Fi hotspot access, as hotspots can be found everywhere. How many of you are looking at getting a 3G Vita. What plan will you pick? |
| Capcom Digital Collection gearing up for release in March Posted: 23 Jan 2012 10:00 AM PST Those who passed on Capcom's Xbox Live Arcade games will have the opportunity to buy eight of them together in a retail bundle come March 27. Yes, the month is becoming quite crammed already, but what's one more release? For $39.99, Capcom Digital Collection includes: 1942: Joint Strike, Bionic Commando Rearmed 2, Final Fight: Double Impact, Flock!, Rocketmen: Axis of Evil, "Rocketmen: It Came From Uranus" expansion, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, and Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3. You in? I own too many of these. |
| Warriors Orochi 3 releases March 20 Posted: 23 Jan 2012 09:45 AM PST Tecmo Koei has confirmed that Warriors Orochi 3 will arrive in North America on March 20. The hack n' slash mashup will arrive in Europe on March 30. Warriors Orochi 3 boasts over 120 playable characters representing Dynasty Warriors, Samurai Warriors, Dead or Alive, Ninja Gaiden, Bladestorm, Z'ill Oll and Legends of Troy. Sadly, Gitaroo Man has been left out of the mix, but I keep my fingers crossed! It looks set to be the biggest Warriors game yet. I am pretty stoked. |
| Live show: Kinect games and giveaways on Mash Tactics Posted: 23 Jan 2012 09:30 AM PST Today on Mash Tactics, the guys are jamming on some Kinect games. Considering that most games for the Kinect require a combination of physical exertion and coordination, it should be interesting to watch Carnage and Wesley put their hands to it. In addition to the goofiness, the guys will be giving away a whole bunch of prizes today! Tune in and get yours. Mash Tactics airs Monday through Friday at 4p.m. Pacific. Watch Jon Carnage and Wesley Ruscher down energy drinks and freestyle rap about the human perineum on Destructoid's Twitch TV channel. Also, there are videogames being played. Join us for your chance to win prizes, talk to industry guests, and witness all of the glorious antics.
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| MS dates I Am Alive, Alan Wake, Warp++ and Nexuiz Posted: 23 Jan 2012 09:15 AM PST Microsoft is about to launch the Xbox Live Arcade House Party event in just a few weeks. I guess they thought it might be helpful to actually tell people when the individual games will be releasing because we got this shiny press release from them containing that very information. The titles will be dripping out, one per week, starting on February 15th with Warp++ (800 MSP), followed by Alan Wake's American Nightmare (1200 MSP) on the 22nd. Then it's the long awaited arrival of arena-based shooter, Nexuiz (800 MSP), on Leap Day and the event caps off with the even longer awaited arrival of Ubisoft's I Am Alive (1200 MSP) on March 6th. It's a great lineup and I'm pretty sure I'll be snagging at least three of these. What about you? |
| Posted: 23 Jan 2012 09:00 AM PST In recent years, the platform game has been coming back into style with releases such as Rayman Origins and Donkey Kong Country Returns catching the attention of gamers across the globe. But there have always been those certain platformers that test your reflexes and timing more than your standard Mario or Sonic fare. During the NES generation, titles like Ghosts’N Goblins or Castlevania demanded that you use all of your skills in order to succeed. Now it seems that the most challenging platformers have found a new home, on computers with games such as N and I Wanna Be the Guy. Let me preface this: I have put countless hours into Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls, Ikaruga, Super Meat Boy, and a few titles in the Contra series, so I have a fair bit of practice with challenging games in a variety of genres. Dustforce, however, has tested my patience like no other but it has kept me coming back for more. Dustforce (PC) This is the first game from Hitbox Team, and it has had quite an interesting genesis. The original concept behind Dustforce was to create a 2D platforming game that challenged the player to master their character and the game mechanics. With this idea in mind and a well-made prototype in hand, Hitbox Team entered indiePub’s third Annual Independent Game Developer Competition and went on to win the $100,000 that helped to make Dustforce a reality. In Dustforce, you play as one of four janitorial warriors looking to rid this world of all of the filth that seems to be not only cluttering up the place, but also infecting the wildlife and humans. Your job is to sweep this world clean, and to do so as stylishly as possible. These aren’t you average work-a-day blue collars, though; their skills in wall running, long jumping, and back flipping would even make the most seasoned parkour expert green with envy. One thing that really makes Dustforce stand out from the crowd is its unique 2D art style. The hard-edged shadows and expressive animations really help provide a sense of character and charm that can’t be found in some huge triple-A titles. The characters pop out with their vibrant color schemes, in contrast to the more muted and cooler environments or set pieces. Their fluid animations show off the agility and dexterity of these sultans of sweeping, along with their own personality. The Blue and Red Janitors -- being the younger and more able-bodied of the group -- have a tendency to use fancier flips and twirls to traverse pits and enemies, whereas the grizzled and hard-nosed Green Janitor can’t be bothered with adding flash to his moves, so he lets his vacuum do all the hard work. It’s the small touches of detail and care put into Dustforce that really got my attention; not in just the characters and animations but also in the environments. One moment that sticks out the most for me was during a trek past a wooded area where it was quickly becoming dusk and I had made it into the caverns. As I explored further, running past old ruins and the helpful forest folk, I had found a lone tree at the bottom of a pit. Upon moving closer to inspect the tree, a small firefly started to buzz around and illuminate it. These are the little touches that add a sense of life and charm to your world. At first, sweeping your way through four different environment types doesn’t sounds like a whole lot of variety, but the amount of visual diversity found in these levels, along with their intricate designs, gives the player varied avenues to explore. The Nexus, the game’s central hub, is the ultimate example of this. The Nexus seamlessly blends all of the visual themes found in the game into one large area for you to explore. Within the forest areas, you can find dry and windy mountain summits along with the rolling green hills filled with woodland creatures both big and small. The laboratory areas have you crossing a multitude of sections, from cold and sterile research facilities to the electrical hazards and angular hallways of the server rooms. Dustforce’s audio work is some of the best I have heard from any indie developer. You can really hear the time and effort of Terence Lee in the phenomenal music and sound effects. Each level is accompanied by an entrancing score that helps to drive you forward. The ambient environmental and character sound effects flesh out this world and give it a sense of depth. There were times where I would start a new level and would be so engrossed by the music combined with the sounds of distant animals and the rustling of leaves that I would just stand there and take it all in. The music and visuals work hand-in-hand to deliver a unique and cohesive experience throughout the entire game. Utilizing all of your dust-busting capabilities is the key to success in Dustforce. Right from the first tutorial, you are given access to the entire arsenal of moves for your character. You can run and climb on almost any surface, and while in mid-air can also perform either a second jump or a dash move. Your character also has two different attacks: one heavy, one light. Similar to the double jump and dash, heavy and light attacks have a wide variety of applications. With light attacks, the player can strike the enemy multiple times in rapid succession, which is very useful for keeping quick enemies at bay. During long jumps over pits, when the player strikes an enemy in mid-air, they can jump immediately afterwards, allowing them to cheat death for at a least few minutes. Heavy attacks can deal more damage, especially to larger enemy types, but they leave the player vulnerable for a moment. Heavy attacks can also be used to knock the filth off an enemy and project it onto another surface, giving the player an opportunity to get a quick foothold and double jump to safety. Sweeping up dust also fills up your Combo Gauge, and once full, the player can execute an Area Attack maneuver that will clean any surfaces or enemies in the vicinity. The Area Attack is also quite useful for dealing with a large amount of enemies that congregate at the end of most levels, and it gives players a nice way to cap off a level of difficult platforming with some slow-mo, anime-inspired destruction. Dustforce trims the fat when it comes to controls, keeping things simple and leaving the challenge to level designs. In order to complete some of the more challenging levels found in Dustforce, a player must have perfect timing and quick reflexes in order to execute the proper moves in the proper order. There were many times when I had an amazing run -- didn’t miss a spot of dust, dodged all of the spike traps -- only to be greeted with an unexpected enemy that knocked out my combo. Thankfully, the controls are all very responsive, and alternate control schemes are supported. I tried Dustforce with both the standard keyboard controls and with a gamepad; I felt as if the latter gave me tighter control of my character. The levels come in a variety of types to challenge different aspects of your platforming skills. You have your standard obstacle course type of level, where the player must run, jump, and dodge while cleaning up all the filth they find to reach the end. There are enemy challenge rooms, again the conceit is the same, but with so many obstacles in the way, players need to slow down and take their time in order to keep up their combo chain. There are also puzzle levels that offer a more methodical challenge. Most levels are complete when the last enemy is clean; what these puzzle levels offer is a small room with a lot of dust and only a few enemies. The challenge comes from figuring out a way to clean all surfaces and still clean that final enemy in time to complete the level with a full combo chain. Another welcome feature is the Tome of Levels, which gives you access to each area’s unlocked levels for a quick sweeping session; it also displays your best rank and your current standings on the world leaderboards for all levels. On top of that, the Tome also allows you to view your own replays, as well as the replays of any player on the leaderboard. For those platforming gurus that can make it through the initial Dustforce levels without batting an eyelash, the developers have also included 16 special Gold rooms to test your skills. These are quite unforgiving, placing insane jump after insane jump that require pixel-perfect timing -- rooms such as these are truly reserved for the platforming elite. But even with all of the different level types, Dustforce still sticks to its original, demanding level progression philosophy. In order to unlock more levels, players need to earn keys by getting a rank of S on Completion and Finesse. For Completion, the criteria needed for an S ranking is very clear: simply sweep up every piece of dirt in the level. Achieving an S ranking in Finesse is a much more challenging endeavor. Here, players need to keep their combo chain going from the first dust pile to the last filth-encrusted enemy while not getting hit or falling into pits of endless oblivion. This is one of my main issues with Dustforce. The problem that I see with Dustforce’s level progression system is in the fact that it limits players on how much of the game they will get to experience. Those dedicated players who put in a lot of time and effort will be able to see everything that Dustforce has to offer, but where does that leave the casual player? They are relegated to playing only the initial levels of the game over and over again, in the hopes of reaching an S rank. Why place such a high goal for your players to reach so early, from literally the first level of the game? The difficulty found in the levels is meticulously designed and balanced in order to challenge the player but to still make it fair and achievable. You could do the same for the level progression system. Instead of keys being given out at the S rank, you could bring the rank requirement down to having B or higher; this way you give players some wiggle room in case they get hit once or lose their combo. For S ranks you could give special keys to unlock even more challenging levels, rewarding those players who put the time and effort into perfecting their run and also giving new players something to try and strive for with a bit more practice. While I do appreciate the challenge that Dustforce offers its players, I find its lack of care for the less-skilled player disappointing. During my preview article on Dustforce, I also mentioned that I experienced problems with the introduction animation shown at the beginning of the game along with dealing with a substantial number of in-game crashes. I attributed the video problems and crashes to the fact that I was running a preview build of the game. When I downloaded the full retail release of Dustforce, I began to experience the same issues. It didn’t take long for the Steam forums to fill up with threads of players having similar problems. For the first few days I couldn’t play Dustforce without it crashing four to five times a session. During the playthrough of only one level, the game crashed on me eight times in the span of 40 minutes. It made an already challenging game needlessly frustrating, but thankfully the most recent patch update has cleared up the random crashing issue that was plaguing the majority of players. On top of its large single-player, a few multiplayer modes have been added to Dustforce. At the time of this review, only two modes were available, but Hitbox Team has stated that more modes will be available in the future. Multiplayer also gives players a chance to play from the other side of the filth. You can control one of four villains, based on the four types of junk you have been tackling throughout the game. Both modes are available at the start and allow up to four people to play together in King of the Hill and Survival. From the wide selection of arenas, you can tell that Hitbox Team put a lot of effort into Dustforce’s multiplayer components. In some games, multiplayer can feel like a last-minute, tacked-on addition, but with Dustforce the multiplayer is just as solid as the single-player. With more multiplayer modes coming in the future, along with a level editor, we could see the Dustforce community blow up with tons of user-created content for both single-player and multiplayer. Dustforce isn’t a game for everyone. Rather, it’s a game geared toward the platforming elite, like those Jump Men and Jump Women who can breeze through Super Meat Boy in their sleep. But it still has a fair bit to offer those of us who enjoy unique visuals and audio work and the occasional return to a different style of play. Initially, Dustforce asks you to keep moving forward and to never stop. Frequently, however, I found myself slowing down or stopping to take in all that Dustforce has to show. The visual design of a world that can transition from sprawling wilderness to a dusty mansion, then to a desolate mountain top and back to modern city just as seamlessly and naturally as the character's animations is something that doesn’t appear often in games. The music and ambient sounds meld together so well with the levels that it gives its world a larger sense of depth. The intricate and challenging level designs test players more so than your standard platformer, and with the developers adding in secret collectibles and more hidden areas in future updates, players will be searching for a long time to find them all. The world of Dustforce has a lot to offer aside from challenging platforming, and that’s where it shines for me. While the commitment needed in order to progress may be a tall order for some, the rewards are still worth it. As I said at the beginning of this review, I have played a lot of challenging games in my time, but Dustforce is one that has asked more of me as a gamer than any other in recent memory. It asked me to refine my skills like no other, to sharpen my reflexes and timing until they were absolutely perfect. After all of that hard work, after all that time spent retrying and perfecting your cleaning run, your reward is the chance to do it all over again, but this time on an even harder level. If you’re looking for a challenge, look no further than this platforming gem. |
| Preview: The philosophies of Street Fighter X Tekken Posted: 23 Jan 2012 08:45 AM PST Hot on the heels of Zelda and Mario, the Street Fighter series is celebrating its 25th year of existence. While the series didn't become relevant until its second iteration, it paved the way for one of gaming's most competitive genres. Helping to commemorate this occasion is the release of Capcom's mash-up of fighting game giants, Street Fighter X Tekken. Two opposing forces of the fighting game world are coming together to celebrate... and pound the tar out of each other. Street Fighter X Tekken (PC, PlayStation 3 [previewed], PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360) This past week, I got to play the most recent build of Street Fighter X Tekken. The newly announced fighters -- Balrog, Vega, and Juri from the Street Fighter universe, as well as Tekken toughies Paul, Law, and Xiaoyu -- were all present, but they were far from the focus of Capcom's latest showing. Instead, legendary Street Fighter producer Yoshinori Ono spent most of his time going over the fundamentals of Street Fighter X Tekken's design and the three main philosophies that molded it: casual fun, hardcore depth, and customization. Street Fighter X Tekken still embodies all the technical prowess that fans have come to expect from the series, but it also looks to invite many more to the party. For starters, the roster is one of the largest to grace a game of this caliber in quite some time. Fans of both Street Fighter and Tekken and, more importantly, those who have perhaps stepped away from either series will find a ton of recognizable faces from their respective histories. It doesn't stop here, either. One look at the incredibly colorful graphics evokes an almost childlike sense of awe. Everything seen on the screen is made to be a visual overload. Whether you are in the midst of a heated tag-battle or a spectator on the couch, there is constant stimuli in both the foreground and background to keep you entertained. Street Fighter X Tekken's desire to be just as accessible to the casual fan is best demonstrated by the game's over-the-top, frantic, four-player scramble battles. It's a call back to Street Fighter Alpha's dramatic battle mode -- a mode that let two battle a boss together -- but taken to the next level of madness with its no-holds-barred, anything-goes approach. The idea is simple: throw four fighters on the screen at once and let them duke it out in a two-on-two battle to the finish. It's flashy, hectic, and a testament to just how far technology has come since the series first graced the videogame world. And if a player looks hard enough, they will find a mode that attempts to offer as much strategy as the classic one-on-one brawls, even if it's built primarily for casual fun. A lot of thought has gone into making Street Fighter X Tekken a game for everyone. Capcom knows that fighting games are often considered "niche" amongst the mainstream, but even as the company builds a fighter to attract everyone, it still has not lost sight of its roots. Everything players have come to expect from a Street Fighter title is in here -- Supers, EX moves, chain combos, and juggles, but they are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to overall depth. As I mentioned in previous coverage, Street Fighter X Tekken adds some tag Supers such as Cross Art and Cross Assault (which are as punishing as they are visually impressive) as well as some new dynamics within the tag system. While tag-ins are initiated with a press of two buttons, it leaves a player in a vulnerable state. To compensate for this, two additional options for bringing in opponents, Cross Rush and Switch Cancel, have been implemented. The Cross Rush is a fancy combo that brings your partner in and allows you to continue the combo with them -- if you have the skills. Switch Cancel, on the other hand, allows you to switch to your other fighter in the middle of a move at the cost of one level of your super meter. It's this variety that allows for quite the mix-up and creation of different pressure strings and juggle combos. Pandora mode might be Street Fighter X Tekken's biggest change to the largely unaltered classic formula of the Street Fighter series. You may recall that I had some issues with this desperation maneuver's balance back in November. Thankfully, it has gone through a major overhaul -- players now take damage, which was not the case previously. While still a last resort offensive for most -- a player needs to be down to their final quarter of health or less to activate it -- once a player comes to understand the strategy found within, there are a lot of possibilities to turn the tide of battle. During the demonstration I witnessed, the power of Pandora was unleashed thanks to a nice setup with Ryu. Using his EX wall-bounce kick (from Street Fighter III) and then quickly activating Pandora, Juri (Ryu's partner) was able to pull off a devastating Super attack that sliced the opponent's health in half. The final piece of Capcom's puzzle, customization, actually finds itself perfectly suited for both the causal and hardcore fan alike. On a basic level, Capcom has included a color edit system that allows the player to give each character a personal touch. Want Ryu to look like an old man with white hair? Hell, why not make Nina completely black. It's all possible thanks to some quick palette swaps, of which two can be saved per character at a time. Unfortunately, there will only be four colors on the disc, but Capcom has plans to release extra color packs as free DLC at launch. Even though the ability to alter colors might be fairly rudimentary when it comes to fighting games, it pairs nicely with the somewhat controversial gem system that has been added, which is Street Fighter X Tekken's way of letting players truly make each fighter their own. There are 57 gems in total, of which three can be equipped for battle at a time. The gems come in two categories: Boost and Assist. Boost gems increase a player's parameter (power, defense, and speed), while Assist gems are there for new players or those who have traditionally had trouble performing inputs for the special moves. The controversy mostly pertains to the potential unbalance these stat-boosting items could bring to the game. From what I've seen, both in battle and from their menu breakdowns, this is not the case (though only the test of time will truly tell). To provide said balance, you must reach certain requirements during the fight in order to use gems. The Boost gem Immense Power, for example, is only activated after a player blocks five times or, if a variant of the gem is selected, lands five normal attacks. When the requirement is met, a player gets a 10% power output for 20 seconds before it disappears. Stronger Immense Power gems may provide a better power output but are greatly limited in their duration to offset this. The Assist gems, of which there are only five -- Easy Input, Super Easy Input, Cancel Assist, Auto Throw Escape, and Auto Block -- offer the biggest tools for newcomers (and really will only appeal to them). At first glance, a player might think it's an unfair advantage to be able to escape throws with gems, but in the case of the Auto Throw Escape gem, a player must have at least one level of their Super for the gem to activate. Other gems, to balance their use, may come with a decrease in power for their consumption. Overall, I'm pretty excited with this addition. Equipment for fighters, as Capcom put it, looks to offer some much needed freshness to the genre. There has been a lot of talk about Street Fighter X Tekken since it was first unveiled back at Comic-Con 2010. From the excitement of a dream crossover to the wild speculations of the gem system, Capcom has created something to be enjoyed by more than just the fighting aficionado. The net code has been rebuilt to handle pretty much every aspect of the game (including the training mode) online. It may seem like a little addition, but it's clear that Capcom wants to make sure everyone is invited to the party when the game launches on March 6. |
| Dead Space dev hiring for new online action shooter Posted: 23 Jan 2012 08:30 AM PST More shooters! I can barely contain my excitement. Neither could the dude that wrote the new job ad for a lead multiplayer designer at Visceral Games, the house that made Dead Space. The ad says that says that this "thrilling new online action shooter." They also say that working on this game will be an "opportunity to contribute to a bold new franchise which is a cornerstone for a new EA Games Studio." Dead Space FPS? I'd play that. We've heard a bit about a sci-fi game, a new game called The Ripper, and solid rumblings on Dead Space 3. And now an online shooter? These guys are keeping busy! |
| How Yorda's uselessness ruins agency in Ico Posted: 23 Jan 2012 08:00 AM PST In philosophical terms, "agency" is the capacity for a person to make decisions and act according to those decisions. The ability to decide one's own actions entails a substantial degree of self-expression and so is quite a significant power to hold, both pragmatically and existentially. In videogames, however, agency becomes a tricky thing. Virtual actions are the products of the agencies of multiple participants: the player who acts, the developer who enables actions, and in cases of story-based narrative, the player-character whose actions drive forward the plot. For instance, players often distinguish between things they did and things their character did. When these agencies line up in agreement, a game is poetry in motion. Not so much when they collide, as occurs in the puzzle platformer Ico, a game haunted by the agency quandary. The illusion of choice granted the player only survives so long as the player wishes to act according to the developer's guidance, and when the player's desire on how to act strays from this guidance, the illusion shatters beneath an unveiled deterministic game design. With the player's actions largely being governed by the whims of the developer, player agency becomes something of a problem. WARNING: This article contains light spoilers. Although more commonly known as the spiritual predecessor to Shadow of the Colossus and the upcoming The Last Guardian, Ico is a game of some renown. The player takes the role of the title character Ico in his attempt to escape from a mysterious castle after being exiled and imprisoned there for the sin of growing horns. Before long, the young boy finds himself accompanied by the ethereal Yorda, an older girl subjected to the captivity of her mother, the Queen of the castle. The game is minimalistic in narrative style, meaning the sparse characterization is primarily drawn from nuance and inference. Gameplay consists of two general operations: puzzle-platforming, wherein Ico traverses terrain and solves environmental puzzles in order to create a path for Yorda to get from A to B, and combat, which tasks the player with fending off specters as they seek to recapture Yorda for the Queen. Although the player can jump, climb, swim, swing, push crates, pick up objects, use levers, attack monsters, and so on, Yorda's abilities are limited to rudimentary movement and the opening of doorways. Since this latter function is otherwise unavailable to Ico, it is for this that the player must drag her around. Despite being her primary function in the game, Yorda opens doorways through proximity alone, courtesy of some magical properties innate to her. This is par for the character -- Yorda's absence of will defines everything about her, from her incompetency at performing basic commands issued by the player to her inability to register the danger of the Queen's minions. Even when the time comes for Yorda to carry out her most useful (and only) duty, it is a passive ability that requires her to do absolutely nothing but smile and look pretty. Yorda is burdensome, vapid, and weak; she is the lobotomized archetype of the damsel in distress. Sadly, Yorda determines a significant proportion of Ico. The gameplay mechanics are framed by Yorda's feebleness and Ico's need for her continued survival. Since a language barrier reduces communication to basics, their relationship largely consists of the dynamic described by these mechanics. A primary expression of this is Ico's method of directing her about the castle, either by hollering at the lass to grab her attention or by holding her hand and physically moving to the desired location. The former, however, tends to be rather time-consuming as Yorda often finds it difficult to concentrate on the matter at hand, while the latter feels more like Ico is hauling cargo by an elastic rope. Meanwhile, the unfolding narrative impinges on the player growing emotionally attached to Yorda on the basis of this physical interaction. As evidenced by her vacuity of will and her incapability to act, Yorda is severely lacking in agency. If she is not being rescued by Ico, Yorda is waiting for him to make a path that suits her relative immobility. In contrast, our steadfast protagonist spends his time in willful activity, solving puzzles and battling monsters as the situation demands. While it is of course quite easy to imbue a character with agency by drawing a comparison with Yorda, Ico is nevertheless propelled by actions in his own right, to his own end. Ico wants to escape the castle and will do everything in his power to achieve this goal. So too does the player, by virtue of wanting to play and advance in the game. Ico's agency here is compatible with the player's, making the filling of his shoes all the more comfortable. The gameplay functions of the player-character meet the expectations and desires of the player, engaging him or her with the game under a loose role-playing pretense. For the most part, this is made all the more facile in Ico through the minimalistic style -- the less reason we have to dislike a character, the more tolerable we tend to find that character and his/her actions. Unfortunately, at several points in Ico, the agencies abruptly diverge. So long as the player-character is expected to cart around Yorda as a glorified key card, her company is a necessary burden for the sake of game progression. There comes a time, however, when freedom is at hand and her abilities are no longer needed, yet the player is obliged by the narrative to reunite with Yorda and sacrifice any newfound chance at liberty. Attempts by the player to treat Yorda's literal stumble at the last hurdle as destined-to-be (or in my case, as a chance to thank my lucky stars) is met with a resolute "Game Over" screen. What develops is an odd entanglement of the agencies of player, developer, and player-character. The developer requires the player to instinctively want to prioritize Yorda over escaping the castle. The player-character of Ico wants to return to Yorda's side in much the same way, we are retroactively told. What the player wants, on the other hand, is very much conditional. Whether or not the player wants to reunite with Yorda depends on how tolerable they find her character to be. In the possibility that the player finds her company to be a far greater burden than she is worth, as is quite the likelihood given Yorda's chronic uselessness, the player will act contrary to the developer's wishes and the narrative will hit a dead end. The subsequent "Game Over" screen is not one resulting from a lack of skill on the part of the player or from misfortune but of a denial of the player's agency. But the player's agency is never anything but a false pretense, an illusion maintained by successful manipulation of the player on the part of the game's makers. The actions of a player, and therefore the fulfilled agency of a player, only exist so far as they are entertained and permitted fulfillment by the developer. Likewise, the agency of the developer is only realized by the actions of the player. This is a universal principle across all videogames whenever a developer creates a virtual world and invites a player to participate within it. This mutually characterizing relationship between the player and the game's makers produces a phenomenal experience born from both party's collaborating agencies. The agency at play during the course of a game is neither solely the player's nor the developer's but rather the two combined. We always talk about our personal experiences with a game as if we authored them, and insofar as the developer enables us, we are indeed the authors. Be that as it may, authorship isn't authority. He who brings to life an act is no more automatically the highest authority on his action than the player is of his/her decision to take Yorda's hand. Not that any of this invalidates the authenticity of a player's experiences. There are hundreds of thousands of videogame tales that are intimate to the player who pseudo-co-authored them, each tale reflexively offering its own story on what player agency entails. Sleep Is Death is one game in particular that relates to this phenomenon, as is the above Half-Life 2 mod The Stanley Parable. Ultimately, the game experience is a shared one, just as any agency exercised within a game is collaborative. So long as the illusion of choice is maintained, the discomfort of a non-existent player agency can be whitewashed. In the case of Ico, the problem is not linearity but that the feedback insufficiently matches the player's natural inclinations. The solution as always is to successfully enrapture the player until they are blissfully unaware that their strings are being pulled. |
| An almost interview with the Indie Game: The Movie gang Posted: 23 Jan 2012 07:30 AM PST
I came this close to interviewing the creators of Indie Game: The Movie James Swirsky and Lisanne Pajot, alongside a couple of the subjects of the film, Tommy Refenes and Edmund McMillen of Team Meat. I was nervous and tired, but really excited to talk to all of them as I think they are really great. I'm not just saying that because I am in the movie for two seconds and because there is a level called Destructoid in Super Meat Boy. I'm saying that because these people really are great! Sadly, there were technical problems that erased about 45 minutes of the interview, leaving us to start this video with Edmund McMillen half way finished with answering a question. The question was about what it was like to be the subject of a documentary that may go on to be seen by millions. Then there were the sudden appearances of the star of original Indie Game: The Movie short subject film and Aquaria developer Alec Holowaka, only to have him suddenly disappear, unrecorded and unloved (sorry Alec!). Then there was the fact that this was actually Allistair Pinsof's interview in the first place, and I was really just there for... moral support? I'm actually not really sure why I was there. Anyway, I'm sad that I didn't to as well in this interview as I had hoped, but I'm really, really grateful that I had the opportunity to be involved it at all. I hope you feel the same when you watch it. |
| Office Chat: Final Fantasy panties, limited time Evil Posted: 23 Jan 2012 07:15 AM PST
Time for another chat from Destructoid's virtual office. In this edition of Office Chat, I'm joined by Dale North and Jordan Devore for a conversation on fantasy vs. reality using women's underwear (a subject we clearly know little about) as context. Additionally, the Resident Evil: Revelations demo for 3DS has a time limit and we're pretty sure we know the reason why. And we search for cracks in our game-dominated lives which might offer some respite from our unhealthy fixations. All this and somewhat more can be found right here. |
| Jimquisition: Piracy Episode 1 - Copyright Posted: 23 Jan 2012 07:00 AM PST
Piracy is one of those issues that will absolutely never die, like the secrets of the Bermuda Triangle or the truth of the Zelda Timeline. I have always had a set view on piracy -- it's not the worst crime in the world, but it's selfish theft nonetheless. However, in the wake of corporate attempts to buy our legal system, I have reexamined the piracy issue and come away with a rather altered stance. This is the first episode in a miniature series looking at the problem of videogame piracy. |
| Posted: 23 Jan 2012 06:30 AM PST [When we're looking for blogs on a specific topic, we'll put out a Bloggers Wanted call. Check out the blog prompt, write your own response in the Community Blogs and tag it with the "Bloggers Wanted Essay Response" tag, and you may see your blog promoted to the front page. -- JRo] One of the most important parts of a game is its setting or location. While not frequently discussed, where a game takes place can pretty much make or break an experience. A survival horror game with incredible gameplay can fall flat on its face if the atmosphere isn't scary, and a game that would otherwise be mediocre can become engrossing if you get drawn into its world. This week, I want you to tell me about your favorite settings or locations in games, or, alternatively, games where the setting was so bland or uninspiring that it ruined the game for you. This isn't about gameplay or characters -- I want to hear about actual places. To participate, just write a C Blog, title it "Location: [Your Blog's Title]", and select the Bloggers Wanted Essay Response tag. Throughout the week, keep an eye on the blogs and get some discussions going with your fellow Dtoiders, and make sure you look for promoted blogs from last week's topic, Mobility. |
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