The Official PlayStation Blog posted a nice 6 minute clip of PixelJunk Shooter. This video is of an ice stage and does nothing to deter me from my opinion of putting this one on my wanted list. The PixelJunk series is all about high quality gameplay and solid production value. Sure Shooter will not contain the big budget wiz-bang of a GTA, Madden, or Resistance title, but it will be an excellent gameplay experience.
I have only been casually reading Madden 10 news. What I have seen does have me cautiously optimistic about the game. Last week IGN posted another interesting article about the game. Of particular interests: the game will run slower and there is a new premium DLC called Elite.
To kick things off, let’s talk about gameplay. As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, this is the slowest moving Madden in quite a long time. I’m not talking about framerates, nor is this a knock of any kind on the game. Rather the overall speed has been reduced by 5% so it’s more in line with what we see from actual NFL players. This – believe it or not – has a huge impact on what happens on the field. I found that holes in the offensive line are easier to spot and hit, tacklers easier to juke, and the finite movements in animations that might have been lost in the frenetic pace of past games can now be seen in detail.
This is actually encouraging. Now for the cash cow …
It costs five bucks (400 points on XBL) and it unlocks what is essentially a VIP online world.
This exclusive club of sorts gets you into the Elite online community and you’ll get your own private lobbies and private leaderboards. Beyond that, EA Sports is planning on allowing for some sort of avenue for these hardcore fans to easily communicate with the Madden development team. Beyond that, Elite players will also be the only ones in the Madden online world that will be able to play a ranked match on the All-Madden difficulty setting. The standard ranked match difficulty setting of All-Pro will still be available, but these hardcore fans can take the game to the next level. As an added bonus, the players who pay for the DLC will have their online name colored in gold so everyone in the lobby will know when an elitist enters the room.
I wonder what percentage of Madden 10 owners will sign up for Elite status. What sort of badge of honor will this give online users? The dynamics of watching this play out will be a ton of fun. EA just found a cash cow and I bet we see this thing milked to no end in their other popular franchises.
It is hard for me to argue in favor of Vick because what Vick did was wrong. Vick is now a convicted felon, he needs to get his life back together, and playing in the NFL is not some sort of inalienable right. With that said, as I wrote over the weekend, Vick has already paid a hard price. He did not deserve to be suspended on top of serving jail time. As ESPN columnist Howard Bryant wrote, Vick just got treated unfairly.
But on this day, Goodell certainly deserves no thanks from Vick, as the commissioner did nothing compassionate or lenient or even proper. A man just spent two years in a federal penitentiary, but for Goodell — the commissioner of a sport in which a grown man runs around with a ball until someone else tackles him to the ground — doing real, hard time wasn’t enough.
Goodell had to show how tough he is by piling on, to remind everyone who wears the pads and makes the game what it is just who the real boss is.
I really do not know what else to say about this story. I am not here to argue the case for Vick being the same one man show he was before he was incarcerated, but I am here to set the record straight. Goodell just committed a travesty by suspending Vick.
I just checked out N4G to read about the latest, greatest, hottest, news in videogamedom, and there was pretty much next to nothing going on right now. TheSixthAxis had the most interesting story. Apparently Fat Princess is going to included 21 trophies; all bronze. Joy.
I played my first online games last night. I lost the first one by 100 points, but I won the second game, which happened to be a rematch initiated by the game one winner, 164-163. While my scores were not really noteworthy, much less impressive, the online experience was fun for two reasons. First, I earned a trophy, and it looks fairly straight forward to unlock some more trophy whore goodness. Hooray for trophies! Second, since I was using Berry, and my opponent was using Berry, I learned how to better utilize Berry. I know that sounds crazy, but back in the more civilized golden age of gaming friends would come over to kick your ass in Lock ‘n Chase and you would learn from your beating. Playing HVB online was sort of the same experience.
I always have a good time researching a game at metacritic, and in the case of High Velocity Bowling (HVB) the scores are rather revealing. The review sites give the game a subpar 68% (based on 13 reviews), but the users give HVB a 9.0 (based on 12 votes). The users have spoken; HVB is the bees knees.
It’s Sunday morning, so it must be time for some random ramblings, news, and notes.
Prayers for Massa
Each morning while I am enjoying my morning coffee I usually check out a number of sites including ESPN. Thanks to FOX [not really; that was said with venom] I do not get to see the Hungarian GP live. It should be starting within the hour. I was saddened to see that Ferrari’s Massa was in a massive accident.
Ferrari driver Felipe Massa underwent surgery on life-threatening skull injuries Saturday from a high-speed crash during Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying. He was in stable condition in the intensive care unit of a military hospital.
The accident happened when a loose part from another car hit Massa in the helmet, causing him to veer into a tire-lined barrier at about 120 mph. The front of his car was shredded, with both tires gone and the front nose open.
Thoughts and prayers go out to Massa.
Trophy patch for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Because gaming is better with trophies. From the examiner …
LucasArts also quietly revealed that they are adding trophy support to the Playstation 3 version of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Here is the confirmation from the official Twitter of LucasArts Games:
“Just confirmed to me: TFU on PS3 to get trophy support with the Sith Edition. Will find more out Monday (plane takes of in a few hours)”
And all of the IGN gamers rejoiced!
I did not purchase TFU because of all the mixed reviews. Metacritic has this one rated a shaky 71% (based on 47 reviews). The reviews area all over the map. When TFU was first released I thought it would have been a waste of money at $59.99, but now that the game is selling for $26.99, I think this one may provide some good clean fun. Too many game, not enough time.
When gaming nudity does not count.
I should have saved this one for T&A Thursday, but I could not resist posting now. joystiq has an article on Dragon Age: Origins. I do not really know much about the game, but I have seen a few hopeful posts that suggest that we will get to see simulated sex and breasteses in all their CG glory. Something like that. I followed the article’s ESRB link to get to this gem:
Though the game never features human nudity, one female demon character is briefly depicted with bare breasts.
LMAO.
Happy Sunday!
I downloaded High Velocity Bowling (HVB) a while back when it was on sale for $4.95, but I never really got into it. Call it an impulse purchase; waste of money. Not sure that I ever really seriously tried the game, but it did not seem to be worth the effort.
As I have been rebuilding my PS3 and restoring all the PSN content that I previously purchased, I decided to take HVB for a spin. I have to say that I am impressed. I am not sure what is different about the game today compared to when I first downloaded, but right now I am fairly addicted to this one.
I have only unlocked a couple of characters, so I am obviously not very far into the game. I have also not checked out the online play option yet. I want to get better before braving the online world against the competition. Getting my ass handed to me frame after frame hardly seems like a fun way to spend my limited gaming time. Besides, two nights of bowling is hardly enough to make me confident to take on the masses.
I am surprised to see how much DLC is available for HVB. It looks like the developers continue to support this game with new ad-on content, most of which is premium (albeit very cheap), but there are some free goodies. I am going to refrain from purchasing any of the DLC until I unlock more goodies and see if this game has staying power.
If you are wondering, HVB is lot more fun and more involved, and much deeper than the Wii Sports Bowling offering. Besides the actual content and controls, the graphics are actually 1080p. And we all know that graphics make the gameplay better. For those of you that do not follow this blog on a regular basis, that is sarcasm, but the graphics are very nice for this type of game and completely put the simple Wii Sports offering to shame.
My kids have been dying to play HVB with me, but I told them that daddy needs some time with his long lost PS3 before they get a crack at it. Besides, I want to open up some of the content first, and I need to make sure I can kick their little smart asses. Yes, my oldest son is getting better at some games than dear old dad. What the hell is the world coming to?
I have not mastered the controls yet, but I am actually trying to follow real life bowling motions. I am sure I could just site on the couch, press some buttons, flick my wrist, and call it fun. But would that really be fun? I think I would be missing the point. At any rate, trying to time the motion and get the spin down (L2 or R2) has been an interesting learning experience, but I am sure that I will get the hang of it sooner or later. The fun factor here keeps me coming back for more, which is the reason we play games in the first place.
I have restrained from commenting on the Michael Vick situation. The man is out of prison, he has served his time, and now he wants more than anything to play in the NFL again. In the words of Roddy White, I say free Mike Vick …
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As an Atlanta Falcon fan I have moved on; we now are in the Matt Ryan era. As a father of young boys I have had to deal with the whole role model thing. Or in the case of Vick, lack of a role model. As an owner of a dog I find what Vick did and supported repugnant.
Contrary to what some would want you to believe, the whole Michael Vick situation is not a racial issue. Plenty of his supports are white, myself included. I still have a Vick #7 jersey. My kids still like Vick; in fact they were excited when I told them that Vick is trying to get back into the NFL. I think the league could have looked past the Mary Janes (or whatever it is called these days), the crowd he ran with, and some of the other poor behavior. It just so happened that Vick decided to fund dog fighting. Wrong place. Wrong time. Wrong crime.
With all that said, and with all due respect to those that would keep Vick out of the NFL, the man has paid his dues to society. He was convicted and served his time.
There are many places in “real life” where Vick as a convicted felon is no longer free to pursue work. Currently the NFL contains no such restrictions. If the NFL decides to further punish Vick they should take a hard look at the rest of the players in the league and decide just what point the league is trying to prove by not reinstating Vick now.
The latest rumors are that Vick will be conditionally reinstated into the NFL, but the catch is there will be some sort of suspension. Double jeopardy? A suspension at the beginning of the year is going to damper Vick’s hopes of catching on with a team. What point would a suspension serve?
After we get the suspension business out of the way, the next question will be who will sign Vick? I think there are very few owners that are strong enough to put up with the carnival atmosphere of the dog loving protesting crap that will ensue by PETA and friends. Of course the PETA crowd deserves its own article, but that is a different op-ed.
For now Vick should concentrate on keeping his nose clean, getting back into football shape, and pray that someone will realize that he has already paid a steep enough price. I say let Michael Vick play.
Another PSN game that was announced at Comic Con is Castle Crashers by The Behemoth. I know this one has been available for 360 owners for a while, but since I do not have one of those, I am happy that this tasty hack-n-slash multi-player game is headed towards the PSN. One day. A release date has not been announced.
I am fairly sure that Castle Crashers will be a release day purchase for me. I love some good old D&D’ish hack-n-slash type fun.
Yesterday PlayStationLifeStyle posted about five minutes of footage of the upcoming PixelJunk Shooter game. The video was shot at in San Diego, CA at this year’s Comic Con; quality is not all that excellent.
I really like the concept of having to dive into the water to cool down your ship (or whatever it is). This idea looks good on paper (well, the video), but I am not sure how this would play over the course of a long gaming session. This seems like it could get repetitive, but knowing PixelJunk, they probably made the concept fairly seamless with the gameplay.
PixelJunk continues to put out quality games. Shooter will be a release day purchase for me. You can never have too many shooters!
I am posting this one from play.tm, who is in turn quoting an article from Eurogamer. Fancy stuff. In the article Mark Rein of Epic talks about the merits of Sony’s decision to not cut the price of the PS3.
“The truth is Sony has had a difficult year and I think they had to do what they had to do to try to be profitable. They have their own financial issues to solve and lowering the price of the console would probably have made their situation worse,” Rein told Eurogamer.
This is a completely different spin than the usual dribble that often gets posted. I tend to agree with Mr. Rein. Unless PS3s started selling like Big Macs, a price cut over the last six to nine months probably would not have stopped the bleeding.
We all know a price cut is coming, and the PS3 Slim thing is the worst kept secret around. When will we see a price cut? How low will Sony go? Timing will be everything because if Sony plays its cards it too close to the launch of the PSP Go, any positive chatter generated by a PS3 price cut could hurt the Go. Wait too late or cut too little and no one will care. Sony’s recent track record suggests it will do both, which will go over about as well as a turd in a punch bowl.
T&A Thursday continues in spectacular fashion. You have to applaud Gamervision for their excellent research. Girl in Evony Ad Slowly Shedding Clothing documents … well I am not exactly sure what is being documented other than how a little T&A gets us through the day.
Well, being the fantastic journalist I am, I’ve been looking very, very closely at these ads. After hours and hours of research I’ve happened upon a discovery: the girl in the Evony advertisments is slowly losing her clothing. If she continues along this path, she’ll be completely naked in a matter of days.
This is an important discovery. Stay tuned!
Philadelphia has been on an incredible run, 9-1 in their last 10 games to take a 5.5 lead over Atlanta. The Braves have also been on a run of sorts, going 8-2 in their last 10, doing their level best to keep pace with the defending World Champs.
Atlanta is now 49-46, and a legitimate Wild Card challenger. I am not sure that the Braves have enough power and a real quality stopper to make a move, but it is nice to actually see the Braves in the playoff picture.
Mark Bradley of the ajc thinks Atlanta has a playoff worthy team.
This isn’t the same team we saw in May, both figuratively and literally. Jordan Schafer and Kelly Johnson are in Class AAA and Jeff Francoeur is a Met. Those were, as a multitude of you pointed out, the biggest holes in an unassuming batting order. But now Martin Prado is hitting like Pete Rose and Francoeur isn’t killing innings and Nate McLouth is providing professional, as opposed to amateurish, at-bats. And did I mention that the pitching is still great?
Good points. The starting pitching has been very good, but the bullpen, always the Achilles heel for the Braves, still scares me. I would just stick with Soriano and see if they can trade for someone that will absolutely eat up the 7th and 8th innings.
It is still July, but at least I can talk Braves playoff hopes and dreams.
Why not start off the day with a couple of T&A type posts. Unlike the Erin Andrews story, at least this one from DualShockers titled Olivia Munn Breaking Gamer Stereotypes has a videogame tie-in. After all it is over 800 degrees at N4G. That speaks volumes for the hornyness of male gamers.
Not only did Olivia prove that she could grab the cover while staying classy and not revealing everything, she also showed that gamers are infiltrating all kinds of mediums, even Playboy! This is not only a hot photo shoot but also a great step forward for the image of all gamers.
I am taking a lot of this out of context. The author is trying to say that the stereotypical image of gamers has changed, and now it is changing more thanks to Olivia Munn’s non nude pictorial shoot in the most recent PlayBoy.
I cannot agree with this assessment. I am a semi infrequent Attack of the Show fan; I watch it occasionally, and it is nice seeing some eye candy. That is really as far as this goes. I do not believe that Munn is breaking down stereotypes, instead she is just giving everyone a little T&A. She may be a “girl gamer” (a term which I despise), but showing up in PlayBoy hardly makes a “great step forward for the image of all gamers.”
Hopefully I have missed the point and the article went over my head.
When the story first broke that someone taped Mrs. Andrews naked as a jaybird in her hotel room I wondered what the world was coming to. Then I did a google image search. Hey, I’m human.
At least I did not look for the video. According to FoxNews, someone looking for the full peephole video may get more than they bargained for …
Crafty hackers have created a fake CNN Web page housing what purports to be the video of the glamorous sports reporter undressing — but when you click on it, you’re asked to download a specialized video player, which is full of digital nastiness to infect your computer.
Macintosh users are not immune to this one — in fact, the hacker software detects what kind of computer you’re using and dumps an even nastier Trojan horse onto Macs than it does PCs.
You have been warned.
