jcalvert

US F1 To Skip Initial Races?

I missed this article from Racer last week. According to FIA president Jean Todt, the new F1 challengers do not have to show up for the first three races of the 2010 season.

Despite both teams insisting they are on course to make the first race, US F1 and Campos continue to be surrounded by speculation that financial issues will leave them unable to get their cars and outfits ready for the season opener in Bahrain on March 14. Although, under old rules, absence from a single race would result in the teams losing their privileges, F1 commercial rights manager Bernie Ecclestone and Todt have now confirmed that provisions are in place for competitors to miss a total of three races without penalty. This means that US F1 and Campos have theoretically got until the Chinese Grand Prix on April 18 to get their cars ready for action before they would officially fall off the roster.

So now the waiting begins. Will US F1 gracefully bow out given the chance?

Another interesting aspect of the story was Todt’s challenge for F1 to pull its pants up and get on with facing reality.

“We need to cut costs, improve the show and draw investors,” he said. “F1 must understand that the world has changed. How can you explain that an F1 car needs 80 liters of fuel to cover 100 kilometers?

Why not be the pinnacle of motorsports, by doing something impressive? I think this is a great point. F1 teams can achieve innovation, technological breakthroughs, and brand marketing by concentrating on some of the basics.

BTW, where is the next great F1 console title? I miss the yearly releases from back in the PlayStation days.

Madden 10 – One Final Roster Update?

Last week I complained about the final Madden 10 roster update, and how it affected the Falcons. I failed to notice that Kurt Warner (along with several other players) was removed from the game. According the pastapadre (via N4G), EA is going to correct that issues, and offer yet again, one final roster update. I think this is a great move on EA’s part.

Monday – Minimalist Gaming Update

Today is another minimalist gaming update. Not a lot to report, but I do need to get a couple of thoughts on “paper” before today comes to a close.

TheSixthAxis Does Heavy Rain
In general the metacritic scores of Heavy Rain have been fantastic, so it was interesting to see that TheSixthAxis is one of three sites (out of 43) to give the uber title a 7 out of 10.

But it’s not a game, is it? It certainly doesn’t play like one. Split firmly down the middle, half of the time you’ll be steering your character around various locales (left stick to look, R2 to walk) and the other half you’ll be performing some of the trickiest Quick Time Events since Dragon’s Lair. Heavy Rain doesn’t just want you to tap – you’ll be holding, twisting, pushing and bashing that controller before the story is done, and often doing several of those at the same time.

I agree that the controls distract from the game. Funny comment – while I enjoy reading a good review, and this one from TheSixthAxis is fantastic, I seldom make a purchase decision on the actual reviews. I use reviews as a starting point; to see if I may be interested in a game. After reading this review I was thinking about punting on the game; almost. Then I regained my senses. Funny how even this jaded gamer came close to being disappointed in a 70% review. OMG – I have crossed over to the Dark Side.

A Long Race …

I have been posting and posting and posting, for a long time. Maybe too long; maybe not long enough. For better or worse, I have thrown up daily content for something akin to 7+ months, which is a pretty nice achievement, but I am going to have to end this run sooner or later. But not today.

I considered not posting today. It would have been a good day to end my streak because the 6 hour marathon called the 2010 Daytona 500 was rather draining. So it would have been easily excusable. The Daytona 500 had a great ending, so I figured I had to at least go down swinging. Congrats to Jamie McMurray.

Sunday Gaming
I got in some quality time with Out of the Park Baseball 10 (recently joined an online league), and of course continued my assault on the surprising good White Knight Chronicles: International.

Friday Night Gaming – WKC:I and Heavy Rain Demo Impressions

I started my Friday night gaming session thinking I was going to have a small dose of WKC:I followed by a quick game of Madden Ultimate Team, and maybe a fast-follower nightcap of Zen Pinball or HVB.

Because I pre-ordered Heavy Rain earlier in the day, I decided to download the demo. I figured I could get in some quality gaming action while the demo downloaded in the background. My experience with PSN downloads, unlike yours truly, is that you would not consider them speedy. Surprisingly I had the demo in under a couple of hours.

Thanks to being completely immersed in WKC:I and the Heavy Rain demo, Madden 10 and the others had to wait.

White Knight Chronicles: International
While I am not very far into the game’s story, I continue to enjoy it, exploring its depths. It is funny how much some of the reviews are docking the game for substandard graphics. I really wonder what everyone was expecting. I agree that the graphics are not the best ever, but the large, detail environments more make up for any shortfalls in the character models, animation, and other details that the pundits find lacking. I really think this view is ridiculous, but I think I am just going to back off of it for a while.

The slow-paced, turn-based combat system is another area where most reviewers have damned the game with piss poor review scores. Once again I have to ask what they were expecting. Zelda? Tekken? Give me a break.

I have not read the manual, and I have not looked at any guidebooks or online FAQs. I really have no idea if I taking my characters in the right direction with my skill, magic, and combat choices. The key for me is that I am having fun in the process; learning how to make new combat combinations is part of the experience. I think WKC:I will open up to a whole different level of RPG combat joy once I actually bother to read the manual, and master some of the skill and combo techniques. In other words, if I actually knew WTF I was doing, I bet I would be effective with WKC:I’s combat system, which begs the question. Who pissed in the reviewers’ Cheerios?

Last night I also attempted to do the online Georama thing for the first time. I did not spend much time in online other than poking around a little bit; it was getting late and the Heavy Rain demo was calling my name.

Getting online was not a simple process. After accepting an overbearing on-line agreement, that looks to be one that you have to accept each time you enter the online mode, I had to enter a new character name; for some reason my avatar’s name was unacceptable.

I am not sure what was wrong with Ming-Fu. Was this name already taken? Are special characters (i.e. a hyphen) not allowed? Does the game engine have some sort of filter that deemed my avatar’s name offensive and generally not acceptable? As my grandmother used to say – that was a hell of a note.

I attempted multiple combinations [Ming-Fu, MingFu, Fu-Ming, Meing-Fu, MeingFu, Fuu-Ming, etc] before finally giving up and going with jcalvert. The one and only; I’m so original. I am not sure what sort of consequences this will have on my offline silent partner avatar, Ming-Fu. Maybe he will have split personalities.

While WKC:I may not be for everyone, especially the pundits that are trashing the game, I implore JRPG fans to give it a spin because WKC:I is a very solid outing.

Heavy Rain – Demo. Spoiler Free Comments
If you are attempting to stay spoiler free, I will oblige to the best of my abilities, but be forewarned that based on the content of the game, it is almost impossible to not give away something.

There are enough reviews and critiques of the demo that I am debating on not going to go into a ton of details yet on the demo. Let’s stick with this approach for a few minutes and see where this takes us once we reach the end of my comments. I’ll stay away from the specifics of the story, at least as it unfolds in the demo; instead I’ll concentrate on Heavy Rain’s gameplay aspects.

It may be a sign of where I am in my gaming career, but I really have not read that much about Heavy Rain. I have seen it mentioned in print magazines, various sites, etc for a long time. Other than it being “the next great game” I did not have any expectations.

I started seeing more and more hype, complete with impressive review scores, which takes us right up to the point where I pre-ordered the game and downloaded the demo.

From the trailer it is obvious that this game is very dark, and will feature heavy content, especially for parents. In fact, I know enough details about some of the back-story that I may consider pulling the plug on my preorder. Call me sensitive to this sort of thing; you can read between the lines … you have been warned.

My first thoughts about the game: an immersive cinematic story-based experience. Dare I say an interactive Myst? I think I have seen this type of game before – being prompted for button presses and certain actions and controller movements is nothing revolutionary. In the case of Heavy Rain, these controls are integral to the game and overall experience. After one session with the demo, I am not sure if my initial thoughts are fair because Heavy Rain is about the experience. Immersive, deep, brooding; I think gamers will get lost in their gaming sessions, which is the point of a well designed game.

Think of Heavy Rain as an interactive R rated movie – violence that is appropriate to the story, very mature content that is pertinent to the overall journey. Of course Heavy Rain’s nudity is well documented, none of which is featured in the demo (at least I did not uncover any); however the demo does have some very suggestive sexual content. Once again, go elsewhere for spoilers.

I wrapped up the two chapters in the demo in about 30-40 minutes, so an obvious concern with the actual game will be replay factor. I have read that the game can be completed in 8-10 hours, but I am trying to stay away from spoilers so I am not sure if this includes a single play-through or if taking different actions and branches increases the overall length of the game.

Based on my 30 minutes with the demo, I believe that Heavy Rain will go down in history as a ground breaking, revolutionary gaming experience. Heavy Rain features high quality production values that broach topics that have never been covered in a video game. Heavy Rain will break taboos that will put it squarely in the arena of appropriate, tastefully done adult gaming content. Heavy Rain truly brings gaming into an adult arena; video games have grown up.

In spite of my trepidations about the main catalyst of the story, I am very much looking forward to the game, and am anxious to play the demo again. Of course I will have to wait until the kids go to bed due to the adult content.

Damning Indictment of the iPad

I am sitting at the auxiliary kitchen bar watching it snow. The kids have already got fill of the cold, wet stuff, so I am indulging on an Ultra Amber (or two) looking for some entertainment value on the web; legitimate of course!

This eweek article pretty much pisses on Apple’s iPad parade.

Steve Jobs said the iPad was revolutionary during the iPad announcement. But further inspection reveals that it’s really nothing more than a larger iPod Touch. More importantly, it’s competing in a space where several products, including those from Dell and HP, might provide a better tablet experience. Of course, Apple doesn’t want users to know about the competition. But they might be surprised to learn that when it comes to tablets, the iPad isn’t necessarily the best offering

It was not like I was planning on getting one anyway. It will be interesting to see how these things sell. Apple has a very loyal fan base, but it is hard to imagine them taking the bait on this one.

Heavy Rain – Incoming February 23

A few minutes ago I decided to preorder Heavy Rain, and not because of the glitz nudity (via N4G). Of course sex sells; no need to comment on that aspect of the game. I really started to wait on this one, but I am buying into the hype. Apparently I am once again an addict.

It sounds like Heavy Rain takes only 10 or so hours to complete (the first time), with a gameplay experience that is supposed to be GOTY quality. Seems to be a nitche title, which is right up my alley.

WKC:I – Finally, A Reviewer Hits The Mark

I cannot remember how I stumbled upon this review last night; my dotage or the Ultra Amber tends to make me forgetful, but I digress. HookedGamers have put together a compelling White Knight Chronicles: International (WKC:I) review, awarding the game an 8.5/10. This is the first review I have seen that truly recognizes WKC:I for what it is and does not dissect the game for not being Final Fantasy or a Western style RPG.

For example, take WKC:I’s much beleaguered combat system. This reviewer actually gets it and is not afraid of taking the contrarian view.

The game is Final Fantasy-esque at heart, but strays from the negative aspects of that franchise. No longer will you be so rudely interrupted by a battle sequence, on a screen completely separate from that which you were just traveling. You will inherit the same turn-based rules, but the enemies are free-roaming and present on the map on which you travel, enabling you to fight and keep moving, not having to wait for the screen to change and a battle to begin. Once you realize that you are in a strict, turn-based system, but with a touch of freedom and convenience, you will begin to fall in love with the gameplay. It is everything that a turn-based RPG should and shouldn’t be, without straying too far from the family and becoming a complete real-time system, such as Dragon Age:Origins.

Beautifully said; gamers with short attention spans need not bother picking up WKC:I. Much like the majority of reviewers, they will be sorely disappointed. Now on to the all important visuals …

This is where the game becomes iffy, again. The environments are absolutely beautiful, as you would expect from just about any next-gen RPG, but the characters and animation leave a bit to be desired. This, however, is because of when the game was made. White Knight Chronicles is actually a port from Japan, where the original was released in late 2008. In order to truly appreciate the graphics for what they are, you have to take yourself back to that time. It is very well done, but by no means are the visuals in the upper-echelon of today’s newest releases. Given the time that the game was created, it is difficult to speak negatively of WKC’s visuals.

In other words, graphics whores will complain. WKC:I is not for connoisseurs of eye candy. I can understand that the majority of reviewers are critical of the game for its dated graphics, but as I have previously pointed out, it is disingenuous to say WKC:I features PS2 graphics. That is simply not the case.

I had to get this off my chest for a couple of reasons. First, I always enjoy a well written review. Second, I think WKC:I is being unfairly criticized. Is it possible that the majority of gamers do not really want freedom of choice? Be careful what we wish for because a day may come when the only RPG available is Final Fantasy and to me that would indeed be a sad state of affairs.

Heavy Rain – The Next Great Classic?

I probably need one more Ultra Amber before I pull the trigger on a Heavy Rain pre-order, but the hype is building to a crescendo. The reviews are incredibly favorable (89%). Or put another way, 80% of the Heavy Rain reviews rate the game 90% or better, which is an almost staggering ratio.

Hide The Women and Children – Here Comes The Snow

The Columbus area is expecting snow Friday: 1-2 inches of accumulation. The city will shut down – grocery stores will be raided, schools will be closed, and non essential employees will not have to report to their places of employment.

It is funny watching the panic and chaos. Yesterday my wife went to the grocery store – a planned mid-week milk and produce run. Big mistake. In anticipation of Friday’s snow, the parking lot of full, with bread and milk was flying off the shelves. Classic – have to make sure you have bread and milk on Friday before the snow melts on Saturday.

Of course we are not equipped for snow and icy roads. The city probably has a couple of dump trucks filled with sand, so if the roads become hazardous, it should make for great drama for the local media.

Come on Frosty! My how we have missed ya!

EA Goes All In – Project Ten Dollar

It will be interesting to see how EA’s new “Project Ten Dollar” will turn out for consumers. According to BusinessWeek (via EuroGamer), EA will include a $10 coupon in upcoming games that unlocks additional content.

At the meeting, Riccitiello green-lighted “Project Ten Dollar,” a coupon program to reward people who purchase a new game with downloadable content and upgrades. People who buy used games pay an extra $10 or more for the same goodies. To create online products quickly, EA cut a deal in November to buy Playfish, which makes free games for social networks.

While I do not typically purchase used games, I wonder what is at play? Take Madden 10 which has some DLC for classic AFL teams. If Madden 11 includes that as part of the coupon, that is a nice to have; I never purchased it for Madden 11. If the coupon is for Ultimate Team, EA will have problems growing this potential revenue stream in Madden 11. I would have never tried Ultimate Team in Madden 10 if it was not included for free.

Sticking with Madden, what if roster updates are pay-to-play; included for free with the coupon? Because Madden contains the NFL license, I do not think EA can screw consumers by only including some teams, players, stadiums, but they could go the route of making roster updates, playbooks, extra jerseys, etc, which would tick off a lot of gamers.

I can understand EA attempting to cash in on the second-hand market, but I disagree with this approach. If they make a compelling experience, and make DLC that gamers actually want to purchase, EA will make their revenue in micro-transactions. I would love to see some numbers on Madden Ultimate Team because I suspect EA turned this very late addition to Madden into some additional revenue where none was expected.

Daily Dose of WKC:I Bashing

The poor scores continue to roll in, but does the game really suck? Maybe I am blissfully ignorant since I have not spent 20+ hours in the single player game, experienced the typically cesspool of online gaming, and explored the joys and frustrations of Georama. Maybe that is why I do not get the 2.5/5 awarded by RPGamer.

The one area of the game where players can actually take full advantage of their avatar is in the game’s online questing mode … These online quests can be played with other players, but the whole process to do this is very disconnected. If players have friends at the ready to play, the process can be rather entertaining, very MMO-lite, as the team ventures around an area to complete a quest within a set amount of time. Players attempting to jump into others’ quests or those waiting for players to join them will find varying degrees of enjoyment. Sadly, out of the game’s fifty or so quests, most are just harder versions of the same quest, so the variety is quite limited. Online questing is a nice addition that I have trouble complaining about, considering it is not the sole focus of the game, but it is far from efficient.

I have no quarrel with the review – as is typical of RPGamer reviews, this one is well written and informative. The combat system is different; you spend a lot of time watching your combat charge meter to come full circle before you get to execute your attack. While it may not be your typical FF offering or Zelda based combat system, I don’t think it’s completely broken.

Maybe the game would rate higher if it included some nice boobies to entertain reviewers while waiting for their next opportunity to button mash. Maybe we can look forward to an innovative “watch T&A while you wait” combat system in WKC2.

I am probably not being fair, which is the reason I keep saying that I am really not very far along. If I had put in hours of watching and waiting, maybe I would also be sick of the combat system.

I’ll keep plugging along and providing a comment or two because this game will go in the discount bin, and most gamers will appreciate a contrarian view.

The Death of Console NCAA Basketball Titles

Over at Dubious Quality, Bill Harris posted an interesting article last night. Apparently EA is pulling the plug on this year’s annual NCAA Basketball title; I believe the 2K title was already canned.

I have never been a huge video game basketball fan, but I never thought I would see this day come. Is NCAA Football next?

From my perspective, I don’t think it is such a bad thing for EA to skip a release. Personally I would rather see developers focus on creating a really great title and then offer DLC, even if some of it is pay-to-play, in order to support and enhance the gaming experience.

Take Madden 2010 for example. While the game does have some faults, it is sold enough that I may consider not picking up 2011. I doubt EA would ever do this, but they could keep 2010 rolling – continue to patch the game and offer new content via DLC. Of course the patches should be free. EA could offer Madden 2010 gamers 2011 roster update subscriptions in two different tiers – post draft and post training camp, and an unlimited offer that would support roster updates throughout the year. EA has already shown the ability to add free DLC via Madden Ultimate Team, which can also drive revenue.

I passed on last year’s NCAA Basketball and NCAA Football titles, so I am not sure if continuing to release patches and DLC would even be an option, but it would be something that (I think) gamers would embrace. Could you image a year when the reviews did not claim “same game with roster updates?” Rejoice! That would be music to my ears!

RPGing – One hour at a time …

My gaming time on weeknights is often pretty limited due to real life influences – work, family, you know the drill. I think I am a nut for trying to tackle White Knight Chronicles: International (WKC:I) in this manner. A week after the game was released I am sure there are plenty of folks finished with the game, or at least a good deal of the way completed, and of course they are making glorious online cities.

Not me. I am making my way through this one bit by precious bit. Last night I got in 45-60 minutes, but died right before the next save point, which probably cost me 20 minutes of in-game time. That is almost half an hour of my life that I will never get back. Oops!

I am enjoying WKC:I, but I have not really explored any of the deeper aspects of the combat (combos), skill system, guilds, or item enhancements. At some point I may actually read the manual to see what is what; doubt I will immediately jump into any forums looking for hits, cheats, guidebooks and the like. At least not year.

It has been a while since I have attempted to tackle an RPG, so when I ordered WKC:I I sort of ignored the fact that I have a couple of newer titles sitting on the shelf, FFXIII is looming, and that I never made a solid commitment to Oblivion. The good news is that I am having fun with WKC:I, and if I can continue to show steady progress playing the game a few hours a week, I may have a virtual RPG re-birth. In the past I never considered 30-60 minute RPGing sessions as a valid way to play these titles; times change.

WKC:I – Inside the Review Scores

I have been watching the first week of WKC:I review scores with interests. Universally the critics are panning the game; 63 metascore (11 critic reviews). Compare with an 8.5 user rating (84 user votes) and something is amiss.

Several things could be a play. First, the game could completely suck, but fanboys of JRPGs are defending the game. Second, most reviewers could care less about JRPGs; they are so “yesterday” which reflects in the attitude of some of the reviews with comments about PS2 graphics, outdated game mechanics, and a clumsy combat system. Finally, WKC:I has the distinction of not being FFXIII. If WKC:I was released six months ago, to some extent the first two points would still be valid, but the game would not have to overcome being released four weeks from FFXIII.

I have not played enough to form a real opinion other than the game does not seem terrible; it’s just too soon for me to tell. Because FFXIII looms, WKC:I will either hit the discount rack in a few weeks, and it has the potential to become a collectable, cult classic. Based on the early reviews, there is no way that this one will get a subsequent printing.

For me the real test will be to see if WKC:I can hold my attention long enough to continue to progress and comment on the game, or if it quickly falls by the wayside. I only have so much disposable free time, so a game has to be interesting, rewarding, and offer a steady progression on improvement (i.e. fair gameplay) for me to stick it out.