New Games |
- The DTOID Show: Borderlands 2, Baldur's Gate, and BOOBS!
- Linden Lab CEO talks future of company and Second Life
- Pre-orders for new SNES game Nightmare Busters sold out
- HAWP: The healing power of Rayman Origins
- Weekend PC download deals: Atari, Apogee, Anno 2027
- Canabalt runs away to PSN
- Mass Effect 3's ending got you down? Help is available
- Transformers Prime: Autobot propaganda
- Claptrap appeals to would-be Borderlands 2 PC players
- This weekend on Twitch TV: Big ups to all of the lurkers
- Review: Jagged Alliance: Back in Action
- Max Payne 3 behind the scenes video shows impressive tech
- Weekend Modder's Guide: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Complete
- Retake Mass Effect? Let's REMAKE Mass Effect!
- Watch the gaming BAFTAs this evening
- Friday Night Fights: The Birthday Boy!
- Blue Plate Special: A Tribes: Ascend discussion
- Another World 20th Anniversary is out now for Android
- Review: MLB 12 The Show
| The DTOID Show: Borderlands 2, Baldur's Gate, and BOOBS! Posted: 16 Mar 2012 03:22 PM PDT
Happy Friday, everyone! Not only is today the sixth anniversary of this wacky and wonderful website we've all come to know and love, it's also the birthday of our great overlord Niero, to whom we paid tribute on today's live episode of The Destructoid Show! Of course, no celebration would be complete without champagne and confetti! It wasn't all partying and drinking, though. We'd be remiss if we didn't talk about the new trailers for Lollipop Chainsaw and Dead or Alive 5 that arrived in our inboxes this week, or the big Baldur's Gate reveal yesterday, or even Borderlands 2's sappy love letter to PC gamers. There's even some information on the Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor Collector's Edition in there, as well as the news on Skyrim's latest patch and possible foray into the world of MMOs. Lastly, this is the final reminder to enter our Ninja/Samurai contest for the chance to win one of six copies of Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus and Dynasty Warriors Next. Watch today's episode to find out how to win! |
| Linden Lab CEO talks future of company and Second Life Posted: 16 Mar 2012 02:30 PM PDT Second Life. The name alone brings about a variety of images, usually ones involving furries and other odd debaucheries. It's really an odd amalgamation: one part chat, one part 3D world, one part faux-game. To me, it's always been something I've abhorred to call an outright "game" and one I would refer to more as a giant "tool box." In a recent article on GamesIndustry.biz, Linden Lab CEO Rod Humble shared some very similar thoughts on Second Life. It's stated that creation is the third most popular activity in SL and that the future will be spent making it rise in popularity. He talks about some of the immediate plans, like automated path-finding for creations, which he states could make it easier for people to make things such as massively multiplayer RPGs within the Second Life world. Linden Lab has been up to more than just that, though -- they're now branching out to other endeavors, starting with the acquisition of studio LittleTextPeople. The project that the studio is working on is one touted to be a kind of socially interactive and crafted storytelling. Little information is known about it other than that, and this is only the first of three new endeavors being put out by Linden Lab. What is clear, however, is that each project will be ones that seek to break the common perceptions of what a "videogame" is. I've known people that have managed to do pretty amazing things in Second Life, from virtual architecture, replica weaponry and other avatar accessories, to full-on RPG systems down to the simulated dice roll. Anything that would allow more people to rise up and engage on such levels is certainly a good thing. At the very least, it will hopefully help drown out all the unicorn sex that people know it for, and that's definitely a positive. Linden Lab: "The Weirder The Better" [GamesIndustry.biz] |
| Pre-orders for new SNES game Nightmare Busters sold out Posted: 16 Mar 2012 02:00 PM PDT Remember the other week how I told you about this company Super Fighter Team that was planning on releasing a brand new SNES game? Remember how I told you the game cost $60 plus shipping? Who in the world would spend that much money on an old-ass SNES game, you wonder? Actually, 600 people would. Nightmare Busters, about a running and gunning leprechaun, sold through all its pre-orders by March 8, two weeks after pre-orders opened. That's faster than any other game in the company's history. See, guys? There's a market for everybody! When I first posted about this game, I was confused as to the game's true origins. I spoke to Brandon Cobb of Super Fighter Team who explained to me that Nightmare Busters was originally developed by some ex-Titus Interactive employees in France and was targeted for release in 1995. Obviously, those plans fell through, but the developers retained the IP and eventually licensed it to SFT. While the graphics and gameplay will remain identical, the new Nightmare Busters has been revised significantly from what you saw in the YouTube video I posted the other day. Soooo... mystery solved! Hit the link below for some screens from the game. Nightmare Busters reaches pre-order limit; exclusive screenshots available [Pixelitis] |
| HAWP: The healing power of Rayman Origins Posted: 16 Mar 2012 01:30 PM PDT
I was sitting here, thinking to myself that it's been a while since someone made light of cancer and the elderly. Then the Burch siblings came along and made my world all the brighter. Except for the death part. That sh*t's depressing as f*ck. Here you go, guys. It's the start of season four of Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin'? The inspiration for today's scenario: Rayman Origins. Of course. Only those two could think, "Rayman, huh? Yep, that totally reminds me of cancer." We are all going to hell. HAWP: Rayman Origins [GameTrailers] |
| Weekend PC download deals: Atari, Apogee, Anno 2027 Posted: 16 Mar 2012 01:00 PM PDT Last week, there were some suggestions that I broaden my horizons and look at more than just Steam and Good Old Games. So I headed over to Gamers Gate today and lo and behold, there's 50% off Atari games all this week including Masters of Orion, plus the Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights franchises. Over on Steam, the big weekend sale is on the futuristic strategy/city builder title Anno 2070 which is reduced by 40% along with its accompanying DLC. I've already mentioned the Dungeon Defenders free weekend, so the only other thing of note is today's daily deal: Rochard, reduced by 50% to celebrate its debut on Mac systems. I'll have to admit I thought I was experiencing déjà vu when I saw that Good Old Games were having a half price sale on Apogee titles, including Duke Nukem 3D and Rise of the Triad. I suppose with having a smaller catalog of games some repetition is to be expected, but hey, cheap games are always worth talking about. |
| Posted: 16 Mar 2012 12:30 PM PDT
I don't know why running away from the destruction of an entire city is compelling, but it is. Just play Canabalt. Just before I wrote this up, I thought it would be a good time to play it for a couple of minutes. Half an hour later I was still jumping across buildings and getting blown to smithereens. Despite the manic pace of the game, I still spared a thought for the rest of the soon to be eviscerated city. The fleeing hero is dressed in what appears to be a suit, was he at work when this catastrophe began? What of his colleagues? I should have probably spent more time looking where I was going, though. I've died a lot. The Flash/iOS game has now made its way to PSN and us lucky Europeans can pick it up for £1.74. You less lucky Americans can get it in a couple of weeks, or play the flash game now. Actually that's exactly what you should do. Play it. Now. |
| Mass Effect 3's ending got you down? Help is available Posted: 16 Mar 2012 12:00 PM PDT
Did the ending to Mass Effect 3 leave you broken and unfulfilled? Is there a whole in your life that can't be filled no matter how much alcohol you imbibe or how many pills you swallow? Are you circling the drain, unable to muster the strength to swim against the current? You are not alone. The world of fiction can leave many fans hollow and distressed. Together, though, we can rebuild that shattered fortress, heal our dying souls, and find the path to take ourselves higher. Where is this sacred place of recovery? Apparently, it's in the Revision3 offices. Who knew? Mass Effect 3 SUPPORT GROUP [YouTube] |
| Transformers Prime: Autobot propaganda Posted: 16 Mar 2012 11:30 AM PDT
I'm not a huge fan of destroying my childhood memories or the magical power of nostalgia. So I had no idea that there was such a thing as Transformers: Prime, a show now well into its second season that apparently has dark and more violent themes than the original cartoon. Knowledge of its existence hasn't made me interested in it, but it does star Adam Baldwin and Steven Blum so it can't be completely awful. Kids seem to like it, so Activision is turning it into an action brawler. Players take on the roles of the Autobot heroes: Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Ratchet, Arcee and Bulkhead. Their goal is to once again fight the Decepticons, led by Megatron and defend Earth. Along the way they will befriend and hang out with a bunch of children, hopefully so that they can be used as cannon fodder. Transformers Prime is coming out later this year on the Wii, 3DS and DS |
| Claptrap appeals to would-be Borderlands 2 PC players Posted: 16 Mar 2012 11:00 AM PDT Following the news that all PC copies of Borderlands 2 will use Steamworks, Gearbox Software is looking to build up even more support from fans with a full web page dedicated to the improvements being made this time around. While the PC version of Borderlands wasn't ideal, this heightened focus on making the most out of the platform for the sequel sounds promising. Highlights include oft-requested features such as a field-of-view slider, remappable keybindings, a PC-specific user interface, and LAN support. That's only one third of the list, so I suggest following the link to see what's in store. If nothing else, go check out the doodle of Claptrap showering. So worth it. |
| This weekend on Twitch TV: Big ups to all of the lurkers Posted: 16 Mar 2012 10:45 AM PDT As another week of programming on Destructoid's Twitch TV channel comes to a close, and the excitement of the weekend approaches, I'm going to take this opportunity to do something slightly unorthodox. Spamfish and the Melted Fridge Show is a program from, and for, our UK community which joined our roster about two months ago. I haven't had much chance to tell you all about it for the simple fact that it doesn't air on the weekend, but here I am now breaking my format because-- why not? Spamfish puts on a damn good show, and you all need to go check it out! The Melted Fridge Show airs every weekday at 10a.m. PST/6p.m. GMT. As Spam himself says, "big ups to all the lurkers!" As for the actual weekend, it's as big as ever. Mash Tactics welcomes discussion from veteran streamer, The Great GQ. Saturday Morning Hangover is shooting so many damn robots. And Philanthr0py will go toe to toe with his worst nightmare on Chill with Phil. That's just the tip of the iceberg. It's "Commnity Collaboration Friday" on Mash Tactics, on which King Foom sits down and raps with broadcasters from around Twitch TV. This week's guest is The Great GQ. Known for his love of Nintendo, and his penchant for formidable, yet somehow profanity-free, raging. GQ has accumulated quite a following over his tenure. After the standard Q&A, Foom and GQ plan to burn rubber in Mario Kart Wii with the viewers. Substituted Reality is Destructoid's only PC exclusive gaming show, hosted by lovably offbeat caster Awdamn and airing every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at 8p.m. Pacific. Tonight after Mash Tactics, Awdamn is taking another crack at Mass Effect 3. ME3 gave him some troubles last weekend, so he's hoping to catch a more engaging session this time around. Saturday night will be some chibi tower defense in Dungeon Defenders. And Sunday will be a swing back to Mass Effect 3. Saturday Morning Hangover with Conrad Zimmerman and Jordan Devore airs from 10a.m. to 12p.m. PST. Come watch as they play the latest Xbox Live Indie Games demos for your enjoyment, and revel in the beauty of Conrad's mustache! This week, Conrad and Jordan will be taking up arms against the automaton hordes in Shoot Many Robots. Hang out with Destructoid Contributors Brett Zeidler and Caitlin Cooke every Saturday at 12p.m. PST as they play through entire games with a focus on co-op. It’s a safe bet that Cait is probably going to get mad at Brett for everything at some point. After a bumpy premier burdened by a hiccup with Twitch TV, Brett and Cait are ready to prove their worth once again as they continue their run of Portal 2 co-op. Chill with Phil airs this and every Saturday at 4p.m. PST. Host Philanthr0py is continuing his full series playthrough of the Resident Evil franchise. This week, Phil is facing his demon. The nightmare that has plagued his mind from an early age, Nemesis, is Phil's target this Saturday. Tune in, not just to watch Philanthr0py play Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, but also to watch one man's battle against terror itself. Sup Holmes is live talk show starring Destructoid editor Jonathan Holmes, airing every Sunday at 1p.m. PST. Every week, Sup Holmes features gaming industry professionals discussing the issues, and answering viewer questions. This Sunday, Holmes is joined by Philip Tibitoski, co-founder of Young Horses Games. A brain behind games like the Octodad series is definitely a brain worth picking. 321Go Cast is Destructoid's live-recording community podcast about nothing, airing at 2p.m. PST and starring JohnnyViral, Pangloss, and Ryu89. This week, the guys are joined once again by their new stream host and cast member, Chris Healy. Super Fantastic Videogame Rad Show: Get There! starring Johnny Luchador and Bill Zoeker airs every Sunday at 4p.m. PST. Rad Show takes a light-hearted approach to gaming, with the guys usually focusing more on breaking games for ridiculous results than completing feats of skill. This week the guys are sliding into cover in the Ghost Recon Online beta, with special guests Philanthr0py and Frogboss. Retroactive centers around the games of yesteryear. Every Sunday at 6p.m. PST, and Monday at 8p.m. PST, its host Crux adventures through nostalgic games on the consoles of his childhood. This Sunday, Crux is putting some Contra in his Contra with the original, Super Contra, and Contra 3. Monday night after Mash Tactics, Crux is playing one of my personal favorites, Castlevania for the NES. Catch all of Destructoid's live programming by following our channel on Twitch TV! |
| Review: Jagged Alliance: Back in Action Posted: 16 Mar 2012 10:00 AM PDT Ask any old-school PC gamer about his favorite tactical games, and more often than not you'll find a Jagged Alliance title near the top of the list. It's a name held in nearly as high regard as X-COM or Syndicate, and for good reason. Sir-Tech's classic series combined impressive depth with character and personality, cementing its place in the pantheon of all-time PC greats. This makes the the job of Jagged Alliance: Back in Action all the more monumental, because not only does it lay claim to that revered name, but also to its legacy, for it is a direct remake of Jagged Alliance 2, rather than some spiritual sequel. Which, of course, leaves us with the question: "Does it live up to its forebear's example?" In a word, it doesn't, but players looking for a substantial, generous tactical game to sink their teeth into should give this one a look all the same. Jagged Alliance: Back in Action (PC) Specifically, Back in Action is a remake/reimagining of Jagged Alliance 2, which puts players in the battle-hardened shoes of a mercenary commander tasked with infiltrating the fictional country of Arulco and toppling the despotic Queen Deidranna. To do the deed you'll need to employ a bunch of hired guns from a disturbingly convenient mercenary-recruitment website, then proceed to dismantle Deidranna’s dictatorship, town by town, grid location by grid location. Unfortunately, it's at that strategic layer that the veneer of familiarity begins to peel away, revealing significant -- and potentially upsetting -- differences from the original. Put simply, many of Jagged Alliance 2's larger, "strategic" features have been pared down, simplified, or eliminated entirely. The main map screen itself is of little use beyond facilitating travel between zones. Recruiting and upgrading local militia to defend locations in your squads' absence is now done on-location. Healing has been simplified and permanent injuries no longer require significant downtime to heal. Skills progression is handled by a simpler leveling and point-distribution system. Mercenaries are now hired for the duration, eliminating the need to renew their contracts every few days. Perhaps the most disappointing omission for veterans is the inability to create your own custom mercenary via gaming's most entertaining, inscrutable personality test. New players won't know what they're missing, but hey, Back in Action is aiming at oldsters, validating the criticism. As a result, the mercenaries feel more like bundles of statistics and less like "real" people. That said, they still do ooze more character and personality than the interchangeable automatons of X-COM or Syndicate, or even the bland Tier One-types of many modern shooters. The sixty-odd mercs available (though the budget recruits of M.E.R.C. are gone) all come with their own unique traits and hangups, which oftentimes affect their morale and performance in the field. "Team Players" work better when in a fully-staffed squad, while loners roll best solo. Short-sighted mercs feel more secure with their glasses on, and macho mercs get more gung-ho when there are ladies around to impress. And the nudists? Well, you can imagine what would make them happy. Merc uniqueness extends past personality quirks as well. Many of the folks you hire have their own, preexisting relationships with the other mercs on offer, to the point that they might be unhappy if forced to work with someone they dislike. Some might even refuse forming a contract outright if you, say, hired their ex-lovers. As time goes on and you hire more mercs you'll start to build squads made up of fighters who get along together, forming complementary "circles of love" that net massive boosts to morale and combat performance. Speaking of combat, it is therein which Back in Action's most striking -- and controversial -- changes lie. Fighting is no longer a matter of action points, initiative, and alternating turns, but has moved into the realm of real-time, with a system they call "Plan-and-Go." But before you cranky elders start spitting bile and bullets, it's worth knowing that the real-time action can be paused at any time, with a host of available conditions that initiate pauses automatically. Back in Action is no Starcraft-like click-fest, and treating it as such will result in a lot of dead mercenaries, which may affect your reputation, and thus your prospects for hiring more expensive, discerning agents in the future. "Plan-and-Go" is at its core a fancy name for the ability to issue orders while paused, but in practice it can go much deeper. In addition to simply allowing breathing room to issue complex commands, Plan-and-Go enables players to well, plan out their actions in ways that, in practice, can be more engaging and intelligent than in Jagged Alliance 2 or X-COM. When such plans come together one can feel like some kind of omniscient god, whispering divine inspiration into his warfighters' ears as they traipse around Arulco as liberators. And when such plans don't come together...well, the game auto-saves as combat begins, so there's always a reload at hand ... if you're feeling wimpy. Real commanders swallow their losses and write them into the budget.
And all the while you're trying to manage your funds on the strategic level, balancing the need to fill out your squad with skilled (and expensive) mercs and keeping them armed and supplied, while managing your inventories, using "mule" recruits traveling back and forth to pick up new weapons and equipment, and training up militia to defend your conquered zones. Combined with the need to defend captured territory from roaming squads of enemies (militia aren't exactly quality fighters), the result is a tense, dynamic sense of tug-of-war. With guns. Back in Action's strategic gameplay may have been diminished, but just enough of it remains to evoke its forebear's hybrid appeal. While all this sounds well and good, Back in Action suffers from a number of significant flaws, ones that stem from some truly baffling design decisions and interface issues that were "solved" in the decade between the original game and this release. It's almost inconceivable that such improvements were not thought through during development. Back in Action should be faithful to the spirit of Jagged Alliance 2, not its problems. For one, squad inventory management is a nightmare. Why do I need to press a separate "trade" button every time I want to transfer items from one person to another? And why can't I handle it on the main strategic map or even just the local inventory menu? Why must I manually re-equip every first aid bag or repair kit when I perform the actions, even if those items are already in my inventory, ready for use? Oversights like that become especially infuriating as squads grow, increasing their need for a constant supply of weapons, armor, ammo and other necessities. At one point I spent almost an hour resupplying two squads of six mercs, reduced to dropping items onto the ground in makeshift supply caches, moving and selecting each merc one by one to claim their gear. Chores like this are necessary in a game of this depth, but they needn't be this tedious. Worse still, recruiting militia is almost as hellish. While the process is simpler than before, it's been made even more annoying. Now mercs need to travel to every zone that potential recruits spawn into and manually place a gun from their inventory into the recruit's hand, with the same clunky trading interface. And since your mercs can only hold four weapons a piece, my "mules" were constantly trudging back and forth from the airport (where ordered guns and equipment is delivered to) to individual zones, manually loading into them and rushing back and forth across the map handing out weapons, then running all the way back to the airport to get more. It's ludicrous. Pathfinding is similarly atrocious. As often as not your men will bunch up in doorways and clog halls, spinning around like armored dervishes, getting caught on corners or simply stopping in place. The graphics, too, aren't exactly state of the art. They're certainly much better than the original's generic sprites and limited animation, but in terms of complexity they're more 2007 than 2012. If nothing else, all equipment is now visible on models, and I was often able to tell what gear the enemy on sight alone. The engine isn't particularly well-optimized either. My rig can run Battlefield 3 at a consistent 50+ frames-per-second, but Back in Action often slowed into the 20s or less in the more crowded cities and military bases. Environmental interaction has been limited as well. Mercs can't vault over low obstacles anymore, and can't destroy walls except at predetermined points. They can't climb without a ladder, and while the camera angle can be changed, it can't be lowered to ground level or used to look inside buildings -- a curious choice, since you can already see every enemy on the map. All things said and done, though, these flaws are superficial. Irritating and baffling, sure, but ultimately irrelevant to the core of the game and its ability to capture the soul of Jagged Alliance, that intoxicating blend of in-depth tactical play and big strategic decision-making, infused with a charming, colorful cast of heavily-armed characters facing the monolithic challenge of liberating a whole country under your command. Jagged Alliance: Back in Action may ultimately be inferior to its legendary predecessor, but it has just enough of that spark in it to be a compelling, substantial impostor. |
| Max Payne 3 behind the scenes video shows impressive tech Posted: 16 Mar 2012 09:30 AM PDT
I always love this kind of stuff. There's a certain "man behind the curtain" thing associated with videogames or any type of entertainment medium. But it's really cool to hear how games were put together and have some things pointed out to you that you would never notice or appreciate without the developers specifically showing you how hard they worked on something. It's that sort of stuff that is incredibly inspiring to me. Videogames are magic. Anyway, back to the video. Rockstar is putting together a series of "Design and Tech" behind the scenes videos to show off just how truly impressive Max Payne 3 is. It'll use innovative cinematic tricks to seamlessly move from cutscene to gameplay and back again without ever seeing a loading screen. There's also a custom panel generator that will dynamically incorporate in-game footage in real time to give it the classic comic book presentation. The environment will also have a huge array of things shattering, breaking apart, burning, and interacting with Max all during gunplay. And that's not even half of what the video shows off. So, who's ready to finally get their hands on Max Payne 3? |
| Weekend Modder's Guide: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Complete Posted: 16 Mar 2012 09:00 AM PDT S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is a shooter, an RPG, a trading simulator, and a survival horror game all wrapped up in one. It has a rich and deep game world, but its depth has probably scared away most people from trying to tackle this ambitious series. Other games, like F.E.A.R. or Dead Space use the same tactics as horror movies to try and scare us. They build moments of tension and spring monsters out of closets to make us jump out of our seats. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. builds a terrifying world and abandons you in it, fighting for survival. It doesn't attempt to create scary moments, it just has a scary world. The payoff isn't immediate -- and you won't be immersed in the world in five minutes while hanging on to the edge of your seat -- but if you give it a little bit of time and effort, you'll be richly rewarded. The world exists with or without your intervention. Gun battles don't start every time you show up, and people don't sit around waiting for you. NPCs have shit to do, and they don't need you there to do it. Caravans travel around buying and selling, and monsters will roam around eating people. You can interact with all of this detail, or you can just ignore it and let it provide you with a fantastic backdrop for your adventures. If you are looking to jump into S.T.A.L.K.E.R. for the first time, I've got some sweet mods that will make your experience much better. Artistpavel has compiled all of the best mods for each game in the series into easy-to-install .EXE files. The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Complete mod series aims to enhance the games without changing the gameplay, story, or core elements. It simply makes them better. The graphics are enhanced insanely, bugs are fixed, the translation to English is improved, and you can keep playing the game after it ends. Trivia:
Time: Less than an hour If this is your first time playing any of the games, you will want to start with either Shadow of Chernobyl or Clear Sky. Shadow of Chernobyl is the first game released, but Clear Sky comes first chronologically. I love Call of Pripyat but it's not a great one to start with since it just drops you into the world without explaining much. Those of you not using the Steam versions will want to make sure that you have the latest patches; otherwise, your game won't start. Clear Sky Shadow of Chernobyl Call of Pripyat If you have over three gigs of memory and you experience any sort of crashing, there is a patch on each of the Complete download pages. This should clear up any issues, but only install it if you are having problems. Extract it and copy all of the files into your game install folder. Run START.bat and hit "A" to add the three-gig fix. If you love modding games, check out more of The Weekend Modder's Guide. Have a favorite game that you would like me to cover or a cool mod to suggest? Go ahead and post it in the comments. I promise that I read all of them, and I try and respond as much as I can. |
| Retake Mass Effect? Let's REMAKE Mass Effect! Posted: 16 Mar 2012 09:00 AM PDT As you may have heard, there is a group calling themselves Retake Mass Effect who are lobbying for BioWare to create a new ending for Mass Effect 3, and they're doing a great job of drawing attention to themselves. First they got angry at BioWare, then they did some nice work for charity, then they told everyone that they did some nice work for charity, and now I'm writing about the fact that they told everyone that they did some nice work for charity. In short, they know what they're doing. They seem to feel that their Mass Effect fandom gives them ownership of a series that they are no longer fans of (because the ending ruined the all three games for them), and as such, that they are within their rights to command their new employees at BioWare to fix the game they don't like anymore (Mass Effect 3) until they can like it. Makes sense. My only issue is that they aren't taking it far enough. Mass Effect has been ruined for me, too, and as a fan in theory of the series, I think BioWare owes me a Mass Effect ending (and middle, and beginning) that I can enjoy in practice. The only way to truly really retake Mass Effect 3 is to remake Mass Effect 3 so it is exactly like the Super Mario Bros. series. [NES box art by the Arcade Artist]
It's all about choice One of the things fans say they hate about the ending of Mass Effect 3 is that it showed them that all the choices that they had made throughout the series were just an illusion of empowerment and free will. They thought their decisions mattered, but in the end, Shepard and company are fated to end up in pretty much the same situation no matter what. The message there is that it doesn't really matter what you choose in life; sometimes, the cards are just stacked against you. There is actually some truth to that. No matter how many colonic irrigation treatments you take, something is still going to kill you eventually. It may not be constipation or a busted anal blood vessel like you think it's going to be, but it will be something. So it may be true that we're all doomed and powerless, but that's an unpleasant truth, and therefore, it should be ignored. That brings us to the Super Mario Bros. games. You are never doomed to follow a hopeless dialogue tree in Mario. The choices you make in that series aren't based on a bunch of pre-scripted scenarios. The choices you make in Mario are totally yours. Are you going to jump over a hole? Are you going to jump in a hole? Are you going to walk up to a hole, stand in front of it, duck, and then jump over it? Every last detail of that decision-making process is left entirely in your hands. It's ironic that the Mass Effect series pits you against the Reapers, inorganic antagonists who are slaves to their own programming. From start to finish, the experiences of Commander Shepard and his crew (and therefore, of the Mass Effect player) were no different. Every step of the way, they are limited to experiencing only the paths that were pre-programmed for them by the developers at BioWare. Remaking the entire Mass Effect series to play like Super Mario Bros. would totally fix that.
It's what the fans want The Mass Effect games sell really well, but not as well as 2D Mario games. New Super Mario Bros. Wii has sold over 25.47 million copies as of this writing. That's proof that the fans want Mass Effect to be exactly like New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Sales don't lie. Some people will tell you that they like Mass Effect exactly the way that it is. They may even tell you that they like Mass Effect 3's ending. How many people really feel that way, though? A million? Two? Bah, that's nothing, a vocal minority attempting to speak for all of us. The majority rules, and in this case, the minority of people who like Mass Effect 3 just the way it is (including the weirdos who made the game) owe it to the majority to bend to our will. BioWare may not want to make that game, but they are just going to have to suck it up and get to work because fans.
It's the way to keep Mass Effect 3 from ruining the rest of the series, and everything else I've been playing videogames for a long time -- more than 30 years, at last count. I've got a lot invested in this art form, and I'd hate to see all that investment be for nothing because the "story" of videogames got ruined at the end by a series like Mass Effect. I love Mass Effect, but I also hate it, just as the Retake Mass Effect group loves the series, but hates the ending because it makes everything that the series was building up to "invalid." Mass Effect offers a great concept (a human learns to work with aliens to prove that humans are worth a damn, and to save the human race from extinction), but it's not exactly what I want it to be. It starts off really good, but once you actually start playing it, it's not fun. If this is what all of videogames has been building up to -- a medium that simultaneously imitates two inferior art forms (Choose Your Own Adventure books and live-action movies) while ignoring so many of the traits that make it the greatest art form of all time -- then that's basically ruining the whole journey that videogames (and videogame fans) have been on until now. "And after all the struggle to show that they are the future, videogames just turned into a cross between movies and books. None of the choices made by game developers who attempted to elevate the medium to the next evolution of artistic expression really mattered." What an unsatisfying ending that would be!
That's easy enough to fix, though, and it won't even cost BioWare very much money. No need to hire any actors, write any dialog, apply any high-res textures, or put any dollars into those types of "amenities." That kind of stuff doesn't matter to true videogame fans, anyway. Just a simple 2D platformer that gets down to the fundamentals of what makes videogames different from (and better than) other art forms will do just fine. You can do that on a shoe-string budget. In fact, the money that the Retake Mass Effect group has already raised for charity might just be enough to make that happen. If the Retake Mass Effect people want to really do something nice for Mass Effect fans, charity, and everybody, then they should use all that money to remake the Mass Effect series in the style of Super Mario Bros., call it something else to avoid lawsuits (Dead Sky, Dark War: Operation Chronicle Revelations would probably be pretty marketable), and then sell the game on their own with all the profits going to charity. That would fix Mass Effect, fix videogames, and help out the kids, all in one fell swoop. As a fan of grassroots projects, I think the Retake Mass Effect group owes it to me to end their campaign in the right way. This is the right way, because I said so. The alternative choice is to keep bugging a videogame developer to remake the last five minutes of a game that they've already finished, despite the fact that the developer has publicly stated that they are done with the game, proud of their work, and ready to move on. Which way of "fixing" Mass Effect makes the most sense to you? What's the difference between some fans telling BioWare how to make their games, and me suggesting that Mass Effect fans make a new game for me to play? Which is the choice of the Renegade, and which the choice of a Paragon? More so, does it even make a difference if either choice will result in the same bleak results? What defines us as people: the choices we make, or the outcomes that result from them? I'll let you guys sort that out in the comments. All I know for sure is, I choose... to demand that Mass Effect play exactly like Super Mario Bros. Expect to see a Kickstarter video supporting this cause in the near future. Little kids will probably be involved. If you want people to care about your movement, make sure to get some little kids to back you up. That's the first thing they teach you in videogames activism class. |
| Watch the gaming BAFTAs this evening Posted: 16 Mar 2012 08:45 AM PDT
Today is special for two obvious reasons. Both Niero and Destructoid are a day older, two pretty solid reasons for drinking and general joviality. So I sort of feel a little bit sorry for the British Academy Video Game Awards -- the gaming BAFTAs -- which also happen tonight. That's just poor planning, BAFTA. Irish comedian Dara O Briain is hosting the show, so at the very least it should be funny and relevant to gaming. There's a diverse list of nominees such as Deux Ex: Human Revolution, Portal 2, Rift, From Dust and F1 2011 just to name a few. Voice actors are getting their share of the recognition too, with Stephen Fry and Mark Hamill amongst others up for the performer award. The category I'm most interested in is the GAME Award of 2011, as it's the only one voted for by the public. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Minecraft snatches that one. Note that the entire event is sponsored by GAME, this will be the first occasion in some time where the company hasn't been mentioned due to its imminent demise. You can watch the whole thing on the live stream here. |
| Friday Night Fights: The Birthday Boy! Posted: 16 Mar 2012 08:30 AM PDT Today is Destructoid's birthday! Have you paid your respects yet? If not, get to it! And after you're done, get back here and let's all celebrate by shooting some shit! New to FNF? Read this! Each week, a bunch of us Dtoiders get together to play videogames online! It's a 100% community-run event, so feel free to join in or even host something yourself! The planning for FNF starts in the forums, where community members volunteer to host matches and post their pertinent details (game, time, Gamertag, etc.). Then, every Friday, reminder posts go up in the community blogs followed by a recap post here on the front page for last-minute planning. To join in, simply send a friend request to the match host! (Don't forget to say you're from Dtoid!) If you'd rather host something yourself, sound off in the comments section below! We hope to see you online! Tonight's Games:
Hit up Steamtoid to see if there's anything going on! Tonight's Games:
Check out the 360 FNF blog for more info! Tonight's Games:
Check out the PS3 FNF blog for more info! Tonight's Games:
Check out the FNF thread in our forums for more info! Tonight's Games:
Check out the FNF thread in our forums for more info! Tonight's Games:
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| Blue Plate Special: A Tribes: Ascend discussion Posted: 16 Mar 2012 08:00 AM PDT Shazbot! Tribes: Ascend has been taking up quite a bit of my time over the past few weeks. It's currently in its open-beta phase, with a released date of April 12th. It's a free-to-play FPS for PC and many of you may already be familiar with the series. Tribes 2 was kind of a big deal. You can head over to the official site and give it a go if you wish and hey, while it downloads, why not read this here discussion? Join me, my amazing segue abilities, and my discussion buddy Sterling "Aiayla" Lyons for our thoughts on the beta! Spoiler: we like it. Patrick Hancock: So, if you had to describe Tribes: Ascend in ONE WORD, what would it be? I'm going with lovely. Aiayla: I'd say ... extreme! And if I could use two more words: holy shit! or fuck yeah! PH: Damn, now you've got me PUMPED! So I guess it's pretty obvious out of the gate that we're both fans of Tribes: Ascend. Have you played any of the previous Tribes games? A: I actually have not. Tribes: Ascend is my first foray into the series, honestly. I remember hearing that jetpacks, vehicles, and large-scale battles were what the games were about, and that piqued my interest. Also the whole ... Tribes: Ascend-being-free thing. But yeah, I became a pretty instant fan when I first jumped in. It really is extreme, and awesome at the same time. PH: Me neither! I've always known about it but I was always playing either Counter-Strike or Team Fortress Classic back then. You can imagine my confusion when I jumped into Tribes:Ascend and tried to zoom in and started using my JETPACK. The game is definitely unique, which brings us to our first topic.
Why is Tribes unique? A: Not too long, actually. I thought that the game had a really good tutorial on how to ski, as well as a nicely laid out obstacle training course. Aiming while skiing -- that's another story. I think it's really cool how the skiing and the jetpacks complement each other though, and found that it really helps add some level of dynamic pathing to each of the maps I played on, whereas other games you'd usually stick to following a few rather laid out routes. Here, you could run, jetpack jump, land into a ski, and jump again to make it across areas in no time flat. A: Oh yeah, I completely forgot about that tutorial. I jumped right into the game and eventually just figured it out. I saw people zooming across the level and just thought "I GOTTA GO FAST!" I'm still pretty awful at it, actually, as evidenced from the skiing mini-game included in the game where you build up speed to go for a huge jump off of a hill. This is why I stick to mostly defensive classes. Speaking of which ... A: I stuck to the fast type of classes, like the "Soldier," and the "Pathfinder." I couldn't really stand how slow the bigger classes were, even when skiing. How am I supposed to become world SkiiFree champion ... wait, wrong game. Yeah, I liked having all that mobility at my disposal. I did end up choosing one of the bigger classes in a match where I just outright needed the more powerful weapons and the armor just to survive. I also unlocked the Technician as well to use in one of the capture the flag modes. PH: Did you tinker with any of the class upgrades that were available? A: Nah. I didn't really earn enough points to mess with much of that (especially after saving for a class), but I did do a bit of upgrading on one gun. It seems like upgrading might be fairly linear per each item, with things like magazine sizes, rate of fire, and a few other things. It looks like there are quite a few items for each class to swap around and interchange to make each class your own, so to say. PH: Yeah, upgrading a weapon is linear and makes it clearly better, which might annoy some new players. However, upgrading a single weapon doesn't take very many points so it won't take long to max out any one of the early weapons. The real points are spent on new classes or different weapons. Some of them are a ton of points!
Pricing model A: Yes. Then I switched to the one heavy class that was unlocked and, well, I guess not, actually. I don't think that buying anything really allots any kind of special unbeatable advantages, though. I really like how everything that can be bought can also be unlocked just by playing. I remember that Blacklight: Retribution ended up doing a very similar thing once it went into open beta, where all non-cosmetic upgrades could be permanently unlocked with in-game points. I think I like how it's handled in Ascend more because it cuts out the middle stages of cheap "temporary rentals" before you can hit that permanent unlock on all the things. Even still, I thought that the first three classes that come with the base package provided more than enough ways to handle all the situations I came across. A: Yeah, they do give you a variety of classes to start with and as I mentioned before, it won't take you too long to unlock another one of your choosing.
Game modes A: I felt the same way about the Team Deathmatch mode. I actually spent most of my time in Arena Deathmatch. I dunno -- I guess I liked it because of the interesting structures that you fought on. You really have to watch your footing a whole bunch as there is very little to stand on, and falling off leads to a host of suicide deaths. Kills rolled in a lot faster there, and it was significantly more fun to me. I also spent a good chunk of time in the Capture the Flag mode as well. I like how the bases are established, with points that can be sabotaged to make it easier to make off with the enemy flag. It was a good mix of things to make it all interesting. PH: Were the maps in Arena Deathmatch really big? Were there a lot of skiing opportunities? A: There were less for sure, but there were a lot of straightaways. It felt more like the skiing was used to keep up momentum when clearing one side of the map to the other in a short amount of time. It felt like the jetpack was more emphasized here. I felt like I was being more tricky and skillful with my use of the combination of both abilities. A simple misjudgment on when to let go of skiing, or losing track of the platform when in the air is pretty much an instant death. PH: Hmm, that's interesting, but I love that the various modes are so different that you'll never experience that feeling of deja vu. Oh and vehicles! There's vehicles you can buy with the points you earn on a per-round basis in CTF. I think there are three tiers? Light, medium, and heavy vehicles? I've jumped in some of them to fire weapons but never actually bought any myself. They seem to be taken out really fast with an air strike and make it seems not very worth it. Did you drive them? How do they handle? A: You can't ski when in them, so I didn't really experience much in the way of vehicles. The few times I bought one, I died pretty quickly, and I didn't notice many other people using them. I mean, I saw people using them, but I never really saw it firsthand. Plus, then I went with the engineer class, and stayed in base pretty much all match long to stop spies from sappin' mah sentry generator. PH: Yeah, I can't say that vehicles look that great. I think those points are better spend on other things. I saw teams try to use vehicles in a competitive setting only to have them blown up about 30 seconds later. Which brings me to ... A: I dunno, but I always love welcoming new games into the foray of competitive gaming. I certainly think that it has a certain ... I guess the best way to put it is "extreme" factor. The whole thing reminds me of that "X-Games" atmosphere where you feel like you need to be over the top in everything you do. I suppose that fits in with how people have "optimal" routes where they can straight shoot the flag and back quickly. Plus the whole skiiing thing. It almost feels more like it IS trying to be a sports game, plus guns and shooting. If it doesn't take off like StarCraft of League of Legends, then I certainly think it will make its own niche in the limelight. PH: Oh yeah, you saying "shoot the flag" reminds me of another advanced tactic: Flag Punting. Basically, you drop and shoot the flag with an explosive weapon all at once, usually when you're low on HP, and it goes incredibly far in one direction and usually results in you dying (since you would have anyway). I love that people are finding these neat little quirks to the game! A: I personally don't really see myself spending any money on anything, unless they start putting out some pretty cool-looking skins for the character classes, or maybe even some additional maps in a package, ala Halo or Call of Duty. I think it's wonderful that they made all the core game-changing stuff earnable through play, and I definitely see myself sinking a good chunk of time in it over the foreseeable future. Besides, gonna need all that time training to be the best SkiiFree champion ever! GOTTA GO FAST!  |
| Another World 20th Anniversary is out now for Android Posted: 16 Mar 2012 07:30 AM PDT One of these days, I'm going to spend an afternoon finally beating Another World. Today, however, is not that day. As promised, the 20th Anniversary edition of the game is now available for Android owners. Between the optional new graphics and control scheme, remastered audio, multiple difficulty levels, and optimization for the Sony Xperia Play, this sounds like a solid re-release. $4.99 might be a bit pricier than some of you are accustomed to, but it's freakin' Another World! Funny how even 20 years later, this is still the first thing I think about when trying to come up with games that feature red-haired protagonists. |
| Posted: 16 Mar 2012 07:00 AM PDT Sony San Diego has consistently produced well-regarded MLB The Show titles that easily outclassed other simulation baseball games. The studio has for years been fighting the stagnation that typically results from a lack of strong competition, and has predominantly met with success. MLB 12 The Show (PlayStation 3 [reviewed], PlayStation Vita) As usual, MLB 12 requires a five-gigabyte hard drive installation. This year, for the first time, you can choose to install an additional 5 GB of data. It takes another ten minutes, and if you can spare the hard drive space, I recommend it. The Show has long suffered from atrocious load times, and the 10 GB installation offers a marked improvement -- for example, it cuts exhibition-game loading almost in half. MLB 12 also benefits from drastically reduced save-game file sizes. Franchise and Road to the Show files previously exceeded 20 MB; now, they’re 1-4 MB, which speeds up saving and loading. Unfortunately, MLB 12’s commentary occasionally makes me wish for continuous background noise to drown it out. It’s alternately terrific and dreadful, more the latter than the former. Franchise games feature some impressively relevant lines, like Dave Campbell mentioning an in-progress hitting streak. Of course, plenty of lines repeat; I almost don’t want to play in Yankee Stadium anymore, because Matt Vasgersian has been talking up “a new home for baseball in the Bronx” since 2009. That’s even understandable to an extent, considering the realities of annualized game development. Instead, MLB 12 on PS3 gets a brand-new mode called Diamond Dynasty. It has more in common with the NHL franchise’s “EA Sports Ultimate Hockey League” than Madden or FIFA “Ultimate Team.” After creating a team and customizing every detail with a 1,000-layer logo editor -- insignias, caps, helmets, jerseys, cleats, and more -- you’re presented with a card collection of fully editable fake players and a few MLB athletes. If you want spend hours recreating your high-school varsity squad, go right ahead. That’s Diamond Dynasty’s undoing. Online play in The Show, a perennial black mark on an otherwise spectacular game, is still not something I would ever willingly subject myself to. I tried to play a few games for this review, but literally could not complete a single one -- my opponent and I always agreed to a friendly quit in the early innings because the experience was so awful. MLB 12 is a sign of a franchise growing stale, a formerly pristine playing field in need of re-sodding. As enjoyable as it still is to play, important elements of the experience aren’t up to par. The future remains murky for now, with Take-Two’s exclusive third-party license expiring this year (and an apparent lack of desire to renew the contract). Perhaps MLB 13 will see some stiff competition to inspire it to greatness. |
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