Archive for March 19th, 2010

I haven't touched "Mass Effect 2" since I polished off my second playthrough of the game a few weeks back, but it seems that BioWare really, really wants me to return to it on March 23rd, as they're releasing two new pieces of downloadable content that day.

The first is the already announced "Firewalker" pack, which includes several new missions and a new drivable vehicle, a hover tank that would make Star Fox blanch. That pack will be free for anyone that has access to Cerberus Network (BioWare's proprietary delivery system for new DLC and information).

The second pack will actually be the first piece of premium content coming to "Mass Effect 2," ahead of "Kasumi's Stolen Memories." It's...um...new skins for three of your squad mates. For the price of two bucks you'll get a new skin for Garrus, Jack and Thane. They don't do anything apart from look cool, but, in Jack's case, at least it'll provide some more projection from the elements.

Not sure how I feel about the second pack. $2 seems a little steep for something that provides zero new gameplay elements and only applies to three of the game's 12 characters. But that's the magic of DLC...you could always just not buy it, right? Admittedly I'm more concerned that something of actual value, like the "Kasumi" mission pack, will be overpriced as well. They've said it'll offer an additional hour and a half of gameplay, which, given the pricetag of the "Fallout 3" and "Borderlands" DLC packs, should be no more than $5.

Hoping to hit that next level of Prestige in half the time? Infinity Ward has you covered. In celebration of the release of the new "Modern Warfare 2" map pack on March 30th, the developer will be holding a double XP weekend from April 2nd to the 5th. The news came via community manager Robert Bowling's Twitter feed:

Mark the calendars now! April 2nd - 5th marks the first Double XP weekend on #MW2 for #xboxlive worldwide. New Maps + Double XP = No sleep.

Truthfully it's gonna take more than double XP to bring me back to "Modern Warfare 2." "Bad Company 2" has been stealing most of my nights since, unlike Infinity Ward's ultra-popular shooter, I only get killed every 10 seconds in "Battlefield" instead of every 5 in "MW2." My kinda game!

The official word from EA is that "Command and Conquer 4: Tiberium Twilight" "has no DRM," but messages showing up in the game seem to indicate otherwise. Ubisoft irked some players with its "Assassin's Creed 2" software that requires users to check in with servers periodically, but game statuses in that case are at least preserved until a connection can be re-established. "Tiberium Twilight," meanwhile, will not do your unsaved progress the same honor.

Any progress after a momentary lapse in Internet connectivity will result in a loss of progress since the last time you saved, according to PC Gamer. The most frustrating part about the report seems to be that the game will not give you a grace period where it tries to reconnect before effectively terminating your session.

The other big concern is that EA doesn't have a standing commitment right now for how long they intend to keep those life-giving servers up and running. Since they've already shut down servers for 2008 and 2009 titles like "Mercenaries 2" and "Lord of the Rings: Conquest," a little boost in consumer confidence from EA's side would be welcomed on this front. I played "Red Alert" and "Tiberian Sun" for well over a couple of years after they first came out. It would be a shame if that's not possible for the latest sequel.

What do you think of EA's security measures for "Command and Conquer 4"? Will they affect whether or not you pick up the game? Share your responses in the comment section below.

Valve just announced that today's update of "Team Fortress 2" will include items created by the fans themselves. A while back, the company set up their "Contribute" site, which allowed players to submit models for proposed items (hats, weapons and even cars) and Valve selected the best of the best to be added into the mix alongside the officially created items.

Here are some of the items that got approved for this round of UGC items:

Heavy - Elvis Hair (pictured)
Medic - Surgical Mask
Spy - Powdered Wig
Sniper - Pith Helmet
Soldier - Kabuki
Demoman - Pimp Hat
Pyro - Brain Slug

There's a full rundown of all the items added in the TF2 forums.

"Mass Effect 3" probably won't be out until the end of 2011 at the earliest, though BioWare already knows quite a bit about what they want to include in the "Return of the Jedi" of their trilogy. The studio has hefty DLC plans in the meantime, but they think they have some surprises in store for the story's conclusion.

"We've got some tricks up our sleeves," BioWare CEO and general manager Ray Muzyka told UGO.com. "We have new tricks."

Muzyka's response came as a direct answer to how players with port over their characters given the in-story options for changing class and other aspects in "ME2." Some of those tricks may not exist yet, and some may be recycled from previous ideas. In fact, aspects of "ME2" evolved the same way from unused features in "ME1."

"A lot of the features in 'Mass Effect 2' came directly from player feedback, and we totally changed what we were planning to build because of that feedback," VP and creative officer Greg Zeschuk said in the interview. "So we knew we had to make (Mass Effect 2) awesome, and we're going to change some of the features and some of the approaches we thought we were going to take from 'ME1' to 'ME2.'"

In the meantime, we can all look forward to more DLC add-ons, such as that nifty Hammerhead hover tank!

What changes would you like to see made between "ME2" and "ME3"? Will the end of 2011 be soon enough for you? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Since the launch of the App Store, Capcom has been pretty supportive of Apple's handheld as a gaming device. So far we've seen "Mega Man," "Ghosts and Goblins," "Street Fighter" and "Resident Evil" games on the iPhone and apparently that's just the beginning. Speaking with Takashi Tezuka, the general manager of mobile content for Capcom, I asked which franchises we can expect to see making the jump over to the iPhone. His response was pretty straight-forward:

"Whatever you can think of is coming on iPhone!"

Admittedly that doesn't take into account the possibility that he thought I was a moron and could only think of four Capcom franchises, but I'm pretty sure the implication (since he wouldn't elaborate) is that all of their major franchises will be getting iPhone releases in the future. Great news for "Bionic Commando," "Marvel vs. Capcom" and "Quiz & Dragons" fans!

"Heavy Rain" pre-orderers already got a crack at "Heavy Rain Chronicles: Episode One - The Taxidermist," but Sony will release it into the wild on April 1st to everyone else. "The Taxidermist" stars Madison Paige, who remains fully clothed this time around, as best I can tell. It's set before the events in "Heavy Rain" and provides some backstory for those who have finished the core experience.

The DLC will sell for $4.99 on the PlayStation Store, according to the official PlayStation blog. It's supposed to be fairly short, but the price tag indicates as much.

The scenario provided in "The Taxidermist" follows Paige as she tracks down the Origami Killer and ends up in a shady looking house. There, you'll have lots more opportunities to wiggle and jerk your controller to survive your way on to investigative victory.

"Heavy Rain" was so unique conceptually, it's going to be interesting to see what else its team has in store DLC-wise going forward. A soft little bit of backstory never hurt anyone, but there's a lot of room for further universe exploration.

What would you like to see in any future "Heavy Rain" DLC? Have you checked out "The Taxidermist" yet? Share your own reactions in the comment section below.

A few weeks back I attended Nintendo's media summit wherein they showed off all their upcoming releases for the first half of 2010. Considering it was such a huge push with "Wii Sports Resort," I was surprised by the absolute dearth of Wii MotionPlus games in the line-up. In the first half of the year there will only be one: "FlingSmash." Last week I caught up with Reggie Fils-Aimé, President of Nintendo of America, and asked where all the first party Wii MotionPlus games are.

"There's tremendous support for Wii MotionPlus. First, what it would highlight is that 'Wii Sports Resort' continues to sell exceptionally well. In addition to that you're seeing some fantastic third party support. 'Red Steel 2'...about to come out. And from a first party perspective we showed 'Fling Smash.' There are more titles that are coming, it continues to be a core part of what we do."

While I hear him say "tremendous support," I'm not convinced. It seems like there was a big priority in 2009 with "Resort" and "Wii Fit 2," but since then it's been extremely quiet.

There are three major franchise games that spring to mind ("New Super Mario Bros. Wii," "Super Mario Galaxy 2" and "Metroid: Other M") that don't use MotionPlus at all, and while it's been hinted that the next "Zelda" will feature it, that's likely a 2011 release.

Regarding those non-MotionPlus franchise games, though, Reggie made a point of saying that Nintendo doesn't like to force control schemes upon their developers:

"But I guess what's unique with Nintendo is we don't force our developers to stick to a particular type of control scheme, and you've seen that. Everything from the new 'Metroid' title to be single remote driven to 'Fling Smash' utilizing the Wii MotionPlus. So it's all about what's right for the game."

It'll be interesting to see whether Nintendo ramps up MotionPlus software development in time for the release of Natal and PlayStation Move later this year.

"SimCity" for the iPhone and iPod touch was a cute little novelty, but it left plenty of ground open for innovation and interfaces that would be better suited for the platform. EA's follow-up, "SimCity Deluxe," looks like it may want to answer for some of those shortcomings with larger buttons, an annual cycle of seasons and visually enhanced pyramids.

Actually, everything is supposed to be visually enhanced, according a fact sheet distributed by EA. Their announcement states that they want "Deluxe" to look a lot more like "SimCity 4" than its iPhone predecessor.

Also in the mix will be a new overall approach to the user interface that's aimed at optimizing commands for flow and accessibility. Bigger buttons are the highlight of that category, though EA didn't cough up much more detail on the subject. They just said they want it to be "as smooth as possible."

Seven scenarios and starter cities will be included, and a full four-season cycle will bring in season-associated natural disasters for you to poke at as you tickle your cities into thriving metropolises.

I'm going to have to see this game in motion to make an assessment, but it does look like EA contemplated the shortcomings of their last iPhone entry. No price has been listed, but it should be out this summer.

What do you want to see in a new "SimCity" game for the iPhone? Did you play the last one? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

"Halo: Reach" info and footage regarding jetpacks and assassinations came out last month, but Bungie was obviously holding a lot back in regards to their sweeping multiplayer additions for the game. Social and matchmaking features highlight the list of planned upgrades, including peer evaluation, social elements, Arena playlists and queue-joining.

Bungie wants to target the most dedicated of hardcore "Halo" players with "Reach" while introducing some features geared toward easing casual play, according to a report over at Shacknews.

Longtime franchise players will notice the return of Active Rosters from "Halo 2," as well as a queue-joining option that lets you automatically join matches with your friends as they become available. There will also be a barrage of settings for connecting with strangers based on language, chattiness, tendencies toward teamwork and other details.

Arena playlists sound pretty epic, but will only affect the most dedicated of players. In order to qualify for the ratings and skill-driven matches, you'll have to generate a score based on daily averages from a minimum amount of playtime. For the hardcore among the elite, this shouldn't be an issue, but the allotted time barrier for entering their ranks just became serious.

For anyone who thought "Modern Warfare 2" was going to have the last word in multiplayer innovation for a while, Bungie sounds like they want to make a statement themselves this year.

Are you hardcore enough to qualify for Bungie's new Arena playlists? What do you make of their other new features for "Halo: Reach"? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.