Archive for September 4th, 2010

Depending on how much you like "Call of Duty: Black Ops," a remote controlled spy car may not be enough to show off your your love to your friends, especially if your friends are people you mainly associate with during gaming experiences. If that's that case, Mad Catz has some new "Black Ops"-themed headsets for you to consider.

Your individual hardware and platform needs can be matched with the Limited Edition 'Call of Duty: Black Ops' Dolby Digital True 5.1 ProGaming Headset for the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 for $249.99, the Limited Edition 'Call of Duty: Black Ops' Dolby Headphone 5.1 ProGaming Headset for MSRP: $199.99 or the Limited Edition 'Call of Duty: Black Ops' True 5.1 ProGaming Headset for PC for $149.99.

"We are excited to introduce our new range of 'Call of Duty: Black Ops' headset based on our TRITTON pro-gaming audio technology," Mad Catz president and CEO Darren Richardson said in a press release. "The new range delivers the best audio experience as well as providing the 'Call of Duty: Black Ops' enthusiast an exclusively licensed pro-gaming headset. The new headsets are part of our continued strategy to marry our pro-gaming technologies with world-class licenses to bring unique products to market that consumers are passionate about."

So are there already "Black Ops" "enthusiasts" out there? And can you be an enthusiast before you've even played a game? Mad Catz seems to think so, or they've at least preemptively strategized to target enthusiasts that will exist in the future. This could just be a chicken-or-the-egg kind of question, but whenever they begin existing, these headsets will be waiting when the 2010 holiday season arrives.

Are you interested in a set of the new Mad Catz "Black Ops" headsets? Do you think you can be an enthusiast before you've played a game? Share your perspectives in the comment section below.

RZA isn't the only rap legend touting his old school video game interests this week. Snoop Dogg has announced his own new game contribution in the form of an eight-pack of tracks for Rock Band titles, and like RZA, he touted his roots as a longtime player.

"I consider myself an OG gamer, and to be chosen as the first hip hop artist to appear in Rock Band...well, it doesn't get any better than that, ya dig?!?" Snoop said in a press release. "I know my fans gonna get down with tha Pound with this one and tha youngsters really gonna realize who started this gamer ish, u hear me?!?"

Here's what he's decided to put on the market for 160 MSP, 200 Wii Points or $1.99, depending on what your Rock Band platform of choice is:

-"Beautiful"
-"Drop It Like It's Hot"
-"Ridin' In My Chevy"
-"Sensual Seduction"
-"Snoop's Upside Ya Head"
-"Tha Shiznit"
-"That's Tha Homie"
-"Who Am I (What's My Name)?"

They'll all be available individually for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii on September 7 with the exception of "That's Tha Homie," which will arrive on the PS3 September 14. You'll also be able to pick them up together for $13.49 or 1,080 Microsoft Points as "Snoop Dogg Pack 01." And they've all been "specifically" reproduced just for Rock Band games, so don't go searching around for them elsewhere, because you won't find them.

What you make of the eight tracks Snoop will be putting up on sale for Rock Band? Are there any others you wish he would have included? Share your responses in the comment section below.

Yuji Naka is a name that's been associated with some memorable titles over the years, including Sega's most important property, Sonic the Hedgehog. In his latest title, "Ivy the Kiwi?" his studio, Prope, has gone back and evoked the essence of Sonic by making the main focus of the gameplay center around the titular character, Ivy, a small woodland creature who runs a lot. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately, depending on your feelings about Sonic's latest titles) it's doubtful that "Ivy" will have the same staying power as a certain blue hedgehog.

The Basics

After mysteriously falling from the sky in the "forest where the birds live," Ivy, a small, partially hatched fowl, immediately ran off in search of her mother, and it's up to the player to help Ivy succeed in her quest. At its heart, "Ivy the Kiwi?" is an action puzzle game, wherein you have to help Ivy make it to the end of each level by providing her with vines to traverse the dangers of each board. Point the Wii remote at the screen to select the placement of the beginning and the end of each vine and Ivy will use them to cross dangerous traps, or protect her from enemies, or just reach different platforms.

The Highs

It's A Pretty Game
Prope obviously put a ton of time and effort into creating Ivy's world, since it has one of the most distinct and adorable art stlye of all the games on the Wii. Ivy looks like she could be a character out of a children's storybook, running around screens crafted by expert illustrators. Whether you're a fan of the gameplay or not, it shouldn't be hard to appreciate the unique beauty of the game.

Everyone Can Help Ivy
One player doesn't have to keep all of the fun to themselves, up to four people can get in on the action at once in the game. The game's competitive local multiplayer allows friends to go head-to-head to see who can complete the levels the fastest, and with the most points. Additionally, players can drop-in/drop-out of co-op through out the game's story levels, offering Ivy another set of vines to assist her. While the co-op can get a bit hectic, if the players can coordinate their skills, two Wii remotes are undoubtedly better than one.

One Valuable Bird
Retailing for only $29.99, "Ivy the Kiwi?" offers up enough replay value that you're sure to be satisfied with your purchase. Each level is replayable in time trail mode, as well as in the main campaign, which challenges you to go through and collect all of the strategically placed feathers. While the first trip through the game might seem a little on the short side, there's definitely room to go back and dig deeper into the title.

The Lows

Use The Vines ... Again
The pointer based action puzzle game has been done before on the Wii, and while it hasn't been done to death like some genres, there's really only so far you can take it without it loosing its luster. "Ivy the Kiwi?" toes that line, and may even cross it for some by the end of the game. The mechanics are simple to learn, and take some time to master (both good things), and the game builds on them offering new challenges around the vine creation as the game goes, it's just there's not much more to it than that. By the end, it feels a bit shallow, and could make the game feel like its droning on and on for some players.

Always Three Vines
Vine creation can be both simple and confusing at the same time. Since it is an absolute requirement of the game, it's impossible to go a level without creating vines for Ivy to use. Unfortunately, you can only create vines in sets of threes, meaning that you can't simply remove a vine that you misplaced in hopes of replacing it with a better one: you actually have to cycle through two more to clear out the bad one, so you end up creating all these extra vines just to help you move on. It's just a frustrating part of the gameplay that could have been easily worked around.

The Verdict

"Ivy the Kiwi?" tries to do a lot of things to stand apart from its action puzzle brethren, and, for the most part, it succeeds. The game's simple pointer-based mechanics kept making me think that this title would make a perfect iPhone game, but it's fleshed out enough to be a worthy budget Wii title. As long as you don't go into the game looking for a really deep experience, "Ivy the Kiwi?" will offer a fun experience, along with a lot of replay in a beautiful setting.

Guerrilla Games' marathon tease streak of jetpacks, multiplayer glimpses, an E3 3-D demo, and "Call of Duty"-style controller revelations has just been joined by an official release date. Just in time for PAX Prime 2010, Sony has decided to declare February 22, 2011 to be the day that will live in infamy for PlayStation 3 shooter fans.

"Today, on behalf of Guerrilla Games, we are happy to announce the official release date of 'Killzone 3' in North America is February 22nd, 2011!" SCEA product marketing manager TJ Consunji wrote on the official PlayStation blog. "We're at PAX today so if you’re at the show, please stop by the Killzone booth and check out multiplayer for yourself."

That latter note may be be more important for anyone in Seattle who happens to have tickets to the show this week. The news has been a long time coming, but there's still a healthy window between now and the target launch to optimize your home displays for 3-D rampages.

Furthermore, Guerilla appears set to get their game out on time right when they said they would. Accomplishing that goal hasn't been easy, though, according to Consunji, who said that "Guerrilla Games has been hard at work making the most explosive shooter possible."

With any luck, the highest possible standards for explosivity in shooter games will tick up a notch after "Killzone 3" comes out. Otherwise, if Guerrilla succeeds there won't be much point in making any more FPS's. Am I right?

Are you marking your calendar for February 22? Do you think "Killzone 3" will be the "most explosive shooter possible"? Share your responses in the comment section below.

Developer Pop Quiz is a weekly interview series in which we ask developers from around the industry the same 10 questions and post their responses.

If you own a Wii or DS then you should take note of one of the best studios developing games for both of those platforms, WayForward, whose latest title, "Batman: The Brave And The Bold The Videogame" comes out next Tuesday. That title's designer, Adam Tierney, was the latest developer to take our weekly Developer Pop Quiz and give us some insight into who he is as a gamer, what he thinks of the industry, and why he thinks modern games can learn from their predecessors.

Name: Adam Tierney
Title: Designer/Director of "Batman the Brave and the Bold the Videogame" for Wii
Company: WayForward
Job Description: Design/Director
First title worked on: "Sigma Star Saga" (GBA)
Most recent title worked on: "Batman: The Brave and the Bold the Videogame" (Wii)

What game has most influenced you, and why?
Boy, that's a tough question. My favorite games are "Ico," "Silent Hill 2," and "Rez" (in that order). But most influential would probably have to be something from the NES era. Maybe "Megaman 2" or "Double Dragon II," the latter of which helped shape our combat in "Batman: The Brave and the Bold the Videogame."

What are you playing right now?
Most recently, I've put over 40 hours into "Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker." What an incredible game that is! I'm a sucker for the series, and Kojima and crew did an incredible job boiling down the essentials of "MGS" into one of the smartest, most varied handheld games in years.

What was your first break in the games industry?
I dabbled in the GBA hobbydev scene for a while, before earning my first paychecks creating graphics for mobile games. The job that finally allowed me to finally quit my day job was animating "Tak 2" for GBA.

What's the best advice you’ve ever gotten?
Always take the time to flesh out your designs completely, and don't head into production until you're sure what's on paper is golden.

Where do you look for inspiration?
I'm a huge film buff, so I think that's been a major influence on the games I've designed and directed. With "Batman: The Brave and the Bold the Videogame," we had over 400 pages of dialogue. So we combed through all the episodes to get the tone just right, in addition to pulling in bits from the previous Batman comics, films, and other cartoons. I'm very proud of the end result, which is a level of dialogue immersion you don't see in most action games.

What's the biggest lesson you've learned about game development?
It's all about the user feedback. Give the player that moment of pure satisfaction, and they'll play through whatever you throw at them to get back to it. "Peggle" has one of the single most satisfying gaming moments I've ever seen. It's addictive. If you're not adequately rewarding your player, they're going to tune out long before they reach the end of the game.

Who do you think will come out on top this console generation?
I love and play all three systems, as well as the Nintendo DS and PSP. So my allegiance tends to swing with what I’m playing at any given moment. The Wii’s obviously coming out on top in terms of system sales, but beyond that I think each system really does have its own strengths and audience. It’s one of the best console generations we’ve ever had, to be sure.

What do you think is the biggest problem current games suffer from?
I think most modern games are just too easy. I know it's because gamers are older now, and we have limited amounts of time in which to beat each game. But it seems like most games these days can be plowed through without difficulty, as long as you're willing to spend a few hours. What happened to challenge and learning from your failures?

What is the most important thing that has happened to gaming in the last 10 years?
I think the rise of the indie gaming scene has been pretty incredible. It's always been there, but the level of polish over the last few years has been very eye-opening. You have little, independently-financed titles like "Machinarium" that look and play better than multi-million dollar big budget games. The amount of creativity in the indie scene is really changing what games are now.

Where do you see gaming in 5 years?
What I want to see - and we’re already seeing it - is a continued evolution of storytelling in games. In "Batman," we put a huge emphasis on VO and storytelling, more than in any previous game I’ve been involved with. And of course you have landmark storytelling achievements like "Portal" and "Bioshock." I’d like to see that emphasis on storytelling in traditionally story-light game genres continue, to where the line between passive and active entertainment becomes blurred.

Take-Two celebrated $12.4 million in third-quarter profits this week, thanks to titles like "Red Dead Redemption" and "Mafia 2," but the same fiscal report on Take2Games.com that showed off those success stories also confirmed that Team Bondi's "L.A. Noire" has officially had its release date pushed into 2011. Why exactly? Well to make it better of course. Isn't that the reason most titles fall behind schedule and resurface many months after they're initially supposed to come out?

The game will still be "revolutionary" and like something that's "never been seen before," Take-Two CEO Ben Feder said in a call with investors, according to a report on Gamasutra. He went on to express confidence "that the investment of additional time will translate into another critical and commercial hit for our company."

Those words played into Feder's larger pep talk for Take-Two's financial backers, asserting that Rockstar is bucking challenging market trends.

"At a time when consumers have continued to be highly discerning with the way they spend their money, Rockstar has proven that innovative triple-A experiences can still command a blockbuster audience and marketshare," he stated.

Neverthess, "Noire" and "Max Payne 3" now have launches projected to occur at some point in 2011. So scratch them off your holiday gift-buying lists, holiday-related want lists and anywhere else you might happen to keep notes on things you want to own that will be stocked on retail shelves before December 30, 2010.

Do you think "L.A. Noire" will be better because of its delay? What are your expectations like for the game? Share your answers in the comment section below.

UPDATE: During a presentation at PAX, Pitchford stated that the game was planned for 2011. Take that, Wall Street Journal!

Original Story: Over the last few weeks, we've heard rumors that 2K Games was reviving the oft-delayed "Duke Nukem Forever" and placing the final development responsibilities on Gearbox Software. Seems those rumors were spot-on, as the publisher re-revealed the game at a PAX press conference.

In an exclusive interview conducted by the Wall Street Journal, Randy Pitchford, the CEO of Gearbox, said that his company started working on "Duke Nukem Forever" in late 2009. Said Pitchford, "Clearly the game hadn't been finished at 3D Realms but a lot of content had been created...The approach and investment and process at 3d Realms didn't quite make it and it cracked at the end. With Gearbox Software we brought all those pieces together. It's the game it was meant to be."

Pitchford went on to give the plot of the game: "Aliens come and say they’re going to be our friends and Duke knows this isn’t going to work out... Duke once again is in the pivotal spot and its up to him to save the world." Exactly the sort of depth we'd expect from the series.

According to the article, the game is expected to ship in 2010. We'll take that with a grain of salt.

The news of "Duke Nukem Forever" actually (maybe) coming out this year leaves me feeling torn. After ten years of development, there's simply no way this game could live up to the ridiculous hype that's been set around it. At this point I'm guessing that 2K is really just trying to make a little money back off their ridiculously over-budget investment. But, on the flip side, Gearbox is not really known for just crapping out games. Who knows, there might be something special coming our way later this year.

(image via Pikimal)

Earlier this week, Activision held the very first hands-on event for "Call of Duty: Black Ops" multiplayer. We already gave you some impressions from the game, including a rundown of all the new features, in our "Call of Duty: Black Ops" multiplayer preview, but there's still a lot more to share. Specifically, we managed to take down the massive list of every single unlockable that Treyarch showed at the multiplayer event. Every gun, every perk, every killstreak. Hell, we even took down all the custom red dot scope designs. Yes, we're that crazy. So here we go:

PRIMARY WEAPONS AND ATTACHMENTS

SECONDARY WEAPONS AND ATTACHMENTS

CAMOUFLAGE AND RETICLE DESIGNS

GEAR

PERKS AND KILL STREAKS

CONTRACTS

NEXT

Just Add Water remains coy about any new Oddworld games they might be working on, but they've been more than upfront with their plans to revisit old games and get them out to new places. First, they decided to unload their core title library on Steam, and now they've revealed that "Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath" will be getting an HD treatment and re-release for the PlayStation 3.

"Since word got out that we've been working with Oddworld Inhabitants there have been many rumours circulating about what we're working on," JAW managing director Stewart Gilray said in a press release. "'Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath' is the first project in what we believe will be a long and fruitful relationship. Having the chance to update this great title and release it on PS3 is just a brilliant opportunity, not least for us, but for the fans too."

Oddworld creators Lorne Lanning and Sherry McKenna have been involved in the process, according to the announcement, which anticipates an Easter 2011 launch date. 720p visuals, sharper character models, remastered dialogue and PlayStation Move support will all be a part of the package, along with some mystery extras that are yet to be revealed.

I think they should throw in some wacky new living bullet creatures while they're at it, too, because the weapons in this game were by far the most memorable part of this "experience" (and "Stranger's Wrath" truly transcended gaming to become an experience) for me when it first came out.

Are you down for a "Stranger's Wrath" remake? Do you think the PlayStation 3 is the right place for it? Share your answers in the comment section below.

Woah, look at that awesome tank at the top of this post! Doesn't that look like a ton of fun to drive around? Wooooooo! Oh wait, if you're like me (and many other people on the internet), you can't actually play with it, because the new "Crackdown 2" Toy Box DLC that launched yesterday totally borks the game. The hits just keep on coming with "Crackdown 2."

If you're seeing what I'm seeing, after downloading the Toy Box DLC pack, you'll be able to get as far as selecting a character and your armor color. But the moment you try to load up the game itself, "Crackdown 2" will crash. And crash bad. The game freezes on one of the loading screens and locks the entire Xbox 360 up, requiring a hard restart.

I had initially thought that I was running into problems because I'm running off a special Marketplace version of "Crackdown 2" that was sent to reviewers before the game's release which doesn't require a disc to be in the machine. Turns out it's not just reviewers having this problem. "Crackdown 2" forums like this one are filling up with users complaining of the exact same issues.

I reached out to a Microsoft rep, who seemed surprised to hear about the issue. I was told they'd get back to be shortly with news, so I'll definitely update this post with that info when I hear back. For the time being, though, say away from the "Crackdown 2" Toy Box DLC pack. It's got bad news written all over it.