Archive for March 11th, 2010

By the time "Star Wars: The Old Republic" comes out in Spring 2011 or later, the MMO will reportedly have the honor of calling itself EA's most expensive game ever. Single-player games are already pricey; just look at the $44 million price tag on "God of War 3". Launching a major MMO, however, costs significantly more.

Though many games can be made at $30 million or under, "any MMO costs significantly more than that," EA's chief banker Eric Brown told a Wedbush Morgan Securities audience in New York, according to Eurogamer. Brown indicated "The Old Republic" would be more comparable to "World of Warcraft," which in 2004 cost Blizzard "$100 million, perhaps more" -- hence the distinction he bestowed upon "The Old Republic" as the "largest ever development project, period, in the history of the company."

If "The Old Republic" swells to the size of "WoW," it could recoup those costs in a month or two, but even for a Star Wars game that might be a little ambitious. They'll need a strong user base to show up out of the gates to realize the MMO's huge profit potential. The flipside of Brown's claims for players will be that EA is going to have to commit to "The Old Republic" in the longterm. With overhead like he describes, there's no room for indecision.

Do you expect EA to recoup their investment in "The Old Republic"? Are you shocked by how much it may cost them? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

"Final Fantasy XIII" was able to do a lot of things, like take up three Xbox 360 discs, ship 5 million units internationally and get its own 360 bundle. Square Enix left behind some traditional elements of the series, though, and sprawling villages where you can poke around and talk to people as you like became one of those sacrifices. Now that the game's epic development phase is is complete, however, Square Enix thinks they may be able to bring such features back in their next non-MMO installment.

"The next time you see a 'Final Fantasy,' we might be able to pack in more of those elements that existed in the past," "Final Fantasy XIII" director Motomu Toriyama told Gamasutra. "And I also think that a game doesn't need to have all of those items in the future. We can create additional downloadable content for people to add, too. It doesn't have to come with that game itself."

Toriyama discussed the demands of developing a 50-60-hour RPG like "Final Fantasy XIII" for the PS3 and 360, and said that the demands they faced without more open-air environments were sizable enough. Now that they have what he calls "base technology," completed, such things may have a better chance of showing up down the road.

If the gameplay is good enough, I can't imagine many players quibbling if they get 60 hours of engrossing sitdown time out of "FFXIII." Traditionalists will likely disagreement with me, though. My main concern when I sit down with it will be how much environment they sacrificed in favor of button-mashing minigames, which could stand to hurt Toriyama's case. We'll see what shows up.

What do you think of "FFXIII"? Do you think it holds its own against its predecessors? Share your views in the comment section below.

Sony claimed to have at least 20 games on deck for the PlayStation Move in 2010 yesterday, and an official announcement put that number in writing along with a list of 36 third-party publishers committed to developing for the platform. The new controller can now expect to be part of the conversation for a lot of upcoming titles, though Electronic Arts, who shows up on there, became one of the first to have a project publicly decline Move support, since their new "Medal of Honor" release won't make use of it.

Capcom, Square Enix, Ubisoft and Sega all showed up on the press release as well, which opens up a great many possibilities for Move gaming. SCEA's own roster includes a lot of casual-ish games, including "Motion Fighter," "Move Party" and "Sports Champions." There's a nice look at a few of those over on Game Hunters at USA Today.

EA previously announced that they wanted to leave politics out of the new "Medal of Honor," and the decision to go forward without Move support suggests that they don't feel motion controls befit their vision either.

"We had a look at it, but we decided that it needed to have a meaningful application for us to use it -- which it didn't this time," EA LA senior creative director Richard Farrelly told CVG. "We rule out anything that risks feeling like a gimmick."

As the Wii has shown us, though, not every game needs to have slashing or flapping arm motions. Plenty of new joystick and control pad masterpieces surely still await invention, so I endorse any developer who keeps play control appropriate. Hopefully a few will take chances with the Move, too.

Are you encouraged by the number of publishers backing the Move? Does no "Medal of Honor" support disappoint you? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

It's been a big announcement week for big-time acts in the world of music gaming. Lady Gaga notified everyone about her arrival to "Rock Band," Jay-Z and Eminem are teaming up for more "DJ Hero" tracks, and now Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool have a release date for "Green Day: Rock Band" on June 8th.

The game's 47 tracks will include "Brain Stew," "Jaded," "Hitchin' a Ride," "American Idiot," "Wake Me Up When September Ends" and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," according to a press release today that set the launch date in stone. As a standalone package, "Green Day: Rock Band" will run $59.99 on the 360 and PS3, $49.99 on the Wii and $69.99 as a "Plus" edition for the 360 and PS3 that also includes six DLC tracks.

Additionally, the 360 and PS3 editions will allow track exportation to "Rock Band," "Rock Band 2" and "Rock Band 3" for a $9.99 fee. I don't know how many of Jason's picks for the track list will be found there, but hopefully we'll find out in the coming months.

Personally, I'm hoping to see some significant "Kerplunk" representation on there. As strong as the band has stayed in recent years, the early '90s produced most of my favorite Green Day songs, and I'd hate for "Private Ale" or "Christie Road" to get passed up.

What do you want to play on "Green Day: Rock Band"? Anything you think they should leave off? Share your reactions in the comment section below.

"Torchlight" did a few things better than Blizzard's "Diablo" series, and the action RPG's makers have one more trick in mind that "Diablo" tried out on the PlayStation -- transitioning onto consoles. The games' developers haven't ported the game yet, but it sounds like they're pushing hard to get one out.

"We're going to put some serious effort into it -- pretty quick -- getting 'Torchlight' onto consoles," Runic Games CEO Max Schaefer told The Rumble Pack. "There's a lot of really cool things about the console world, too, that would work well with our game."

"Torchlight" is a really beautiful piece of work, but even though its control scheme distinguishes itself from "Diablo" in a few key areas, it will need some smart retooling to move smoothly on the 360 or PS3. Even a Wii edition would take some general concept tinkering, but I could see the Move and Wii Remote providing some key solutions.

The game would be worth the effort, though, so I hope they're successful. Their work would no doubt provide a great case study for future PC-to-console ports and would give the game an increased level of exposure.

Would you like to see "Torchlight" on consoles? Do you think a console port makes sense? Share your reactions in the comment section below.

The PlayStation Move has finally, officially, been revealed by Sony as their new entry into the world of motion controllers. At its base it's a remote-styled controller with an orb of light at the tip which interacts with the PlayStation's video camera to determine the controller's placement in the world. There's more complexity layered in when you add in more controllers, but that's the gist. I spent a chunk of time last night putting the Move through its paces, and here's how I was left feeling about it.

The Hardware Design
The PlayStation Move controller (and its optional analog cousin, the sub-controller) feel really good to hold. Much better than the Wiimote or nunchuk. This has a lot to do with the Move's rounder shape and higher quality trigger (which is an analog trigger, akin to the 360's triggers). There's also a friendly, concave action button placed right under your thumb which is the equivilent of the Wii's A button. The shape makes it much more natural to hold.

From a design perspective it's...well...a little nerdy. There's no getting around this orb of light you're swinging around, as it's the key to the Move's accuracy, but you're never going to look cool holding this. Thing. At least the Wii remote you could sort of hide in the palm of your hand. With Move you're basically shouting to the heavens that you're playing some wacky motion control game. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

The Sensitivity
Now this is the biggest question about the PlayStation Move: Is it more sensitive than WiiMotion Plus? Keeping in mind that there's still about half a year before the Move launches, in its current state the Move is equal with WiiMotion Plus in terms of sensitivity. There's a noticeable, but teeny, tiny delay, to transfer your movement to the on-screen character, but all of the motion tracking is spot on and accurate. This varies slightly from game to game, but for the most part I felt like I was playing a variety of Wii games with PS3 quality graphics.

The Games
It looks like Sony is planning for a lot of variety in time for the PlayStation Move launch. I tried a handful of the titles, and some were a lot of fun, while others could use some work. Again, the launch is this fall, so if work needs to be done, there's definitely time to do it.

SOCOM 4: Aiming with a combination of the remote and the sub-controller is pretty comparable to third person shooters on the Wii. I feel like the accuracy might be a little less using Move than it would be with an analog stick, but for all the people that find analog sticks impossible to aim with, this might be a decent alternative.

Sports Champions - Gladiators: Probably the best example of PS Move tech on the floor. You hold two controllers, one which handles your attack swings, one which handles your shield. Again the sensitivity was on par with Sword Fighting in "Wii Sports Resort," but the game offered some additional depth with combos and power attacks. This game is part of the larger "Sports Champions" package, which includes a variety of sports games, akin to Nintendo's offering.

Motion Fighters: Probably the game that needed the most work. Unlike other Move games which use direct motion tracking, "Motion Fighters" uses gesture-based controls to mimic a hand-to-hand street fight. There's a notable delay between real action and screen action, and the gameplay is reminiscent of the original "Wii Sports" Boxing mini-game, complete with swings that don't actually happen, despite your best intentions. Pretty graphics, though!

Move Party: Scoff if you will, but this party game is probably the most fun I had during the whole Move demo. "Move Party" is basically a series of minigames using a mix of the EyeToy and the Move controller. You take turns racing up to 3 other opponents, completing ridiculous tasks like shaving heads or popping colored blow fish. Depending on the game you're playing, the video of you on screen will be shown holding a razor or a spear or a tennis racket, matched up perfectly with the placement of the Move controller in your hand. Motion capture was spot on and I could see this being a big hit with families.

There were plenty of other games on the floor, but those four best exemplified the PlayStation Move experience. The takeaway I had was that it's definitely neat, and fun to play, but it hasn't differentiated itself from the competition enough to make it feel "new." Wii Motion Plus with better graphics is a hard comparison to escape from. Here's hoping the PlayStation Move has a few more surprises in store before launch.

Sony believes they will be able to convert Wii users into PlayStation 3 users with their new PS3 motion controller, now officially called the "PlayStation Move." A huddle of SCEA reps took the stage at GDC in San Francisco and made their case for the device this afternoon, which was previously believed to be called the Arc or Gem.

The Move consists of a previously seen orb-topped wand and an optional nunchuck-like subcontroller that will be sold by themselves, with the PlayStation Eye or bundled with the PS3 when it comes out this fall, according to a report on Kotaku. Paired with the Eye, the controller will launch at under $100.

Several games, including "Move Party," "LittleBigPlanet," a fighter title and casual sports releases appeared at the unveiling. Sony said the new peripheral would offer true 3-D rotation, buttons and an analog trigger, which it believes will usher in a new era of motion control gaming.

We're definitely entering a new era alright. And Sony stepped up to Microsoft's flurry of pre-announced titles with its own lineup today. Precision, real 3-D movement and augmented reality gaming when it parters with the Eye are going to be the key elements that make or break the Move -- especially against the Wii.

We already knew Sony had the hardware to support superior graphics. Now we'll get to see if they can pull off a convincing controller alternative that outdoes Nintendo before going up against Microsoft's Project Natal. The great motion hardware arms race of 2010 is officially on!

Are you impressed thus far with what you've seen of the PlayStation Move? Did Sony make the right call naming it the Move over the Arc or Gem? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.