October 2006

Xbox Live is King

October 18, 2006

News / by Chris Rasco Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Microsoft must be gearing up the PR machine to be ready for the launch of online services by Nintendo and Sony as we just got an email detailing the facts and stats for Live. Many of the points they drive home are in fact huge things that Microsoft built to create the model for online console gaming so I am not going to knock them. Number 8 certainly is a jab at Sony’s pricing model where the services are free, but anything in the store is going to make you pull out your wallet.

While this does reek of PR, it is a sobering reality for Sony and Nintendo that Microsoft has led the way in the online movement and has a bigger head start than anything we’ve seen in console gaming so far. Without further adu here are the top 10 experiences you can only find on Xbox 360 today:

[b]1. Xbox Live delivers one identity across your entire Xbox 360 experience[/b]
– Your unique gamertag, gamer profile; gamer score; gamer zone; reputation and achievements stay with you wherever and whatever you play.
– One friends list across all games, so you are always connected to a global community of millions at any time.
– As we roll out Live across platforms, your identity will be available anywhere, anytime on Xbox, Windows, and mobile devices.

[b]2. Earn Achievements in every Xbox 360 game to compare your progress, skills and accomplishments with your friends on Xbox Live and Xbox.com[/b]
– Achievements are changing the way people play games, the way games are designed and chronicles your entire gaming history.

[b]3. The unified Xbox Live network means you are always connected to a global community of 4 million gamers across 24 countries[/b]
– Connect with your friends online, or play with new ones in a safe, secure, managed environment free from cheating, hacking and viruses.
– Xbox Live provides gamers with access to global tournaments and exclusive programs including online Game with Fame events with Larry Johnson, Matisyahu, Jack Black, The Fray and the forthcoming Pac-Man World Championships in February 2007.

[b]4. Download and enjoy the wide collection Xbox Live Arcade games that are taking the industry by storm[/b]
– Access the collection of over 30 highly addictive games to date from the world’s most creative indie game developers and the biggest game publishers on the planet.
– Sample the free, fully playable trial version for every Xbox Live Arcade game.

[b]5. Ubiquitous voice chat in every game plus video chat, text and picture messaging[/b]
– You don’t have to be in the same game to communicate – chat to your friends anytime while playing a game, watching a movie or even listening to music on your Xbox 360.
– Full access to your community via Xbox.com on your PC anytime, anywhere.

[b]6. Xbox Live connectivity in every Xbox 360 game[/b]
– Call of Duty 2, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, Saints Row and Madden NFL 07 are the hottest Xbox Live titles of the moment with even more to come with the eagerly anticipated arrivals of Gears of War, Call of Duty 3 and WWE Smackdown vs RAW on Xbox 360 this holiday.
– And next year, games like Halo 3, the king of all multiplayer games, as well as exclusive, episodic content for Grand Theft Auto 4 will amp up the Xbox Live experience.

[b]7. Free online membership with Xbox Live Silver membership built in to Xbox 360[/b]
– Create your personalized gamer profile and gamertag; download free game demos so you can try games before you buy them; send and receive text and voice messages and access the best in gaming and entertainment content direct from Xbox Live Marketplace.
Or, upgrade to the supercharged Xbox Live Gold membership
– Enjoy all the features of the free Xbox Live Silver membership plus online multiplayer gaming, enhanced matchmaking features and exclusive online tournaments, programs and events for just $49.99 a year.

[b]8. No credit cards are needed with instant access to Xbox Live Marketplace – the digital download center packed with the latest gaming and entertainment content[/b]
– Sample the free game trailers and game demos or purchase the latest download content for your favorite games.
– Enjoy the latest high-definition movie trailers and new music videos.
– The Microsoft Points micro-transaction model provides gamers with access to an online, renewable, prepaid balance to purchase digital gaming and entertainment content direct from Xbox Live Marketplace with ease.

[b]9. Best in class Family Settings tools[/b]
– Xbox was the first video game console to introduce Family Settings, and today Xbox 360 and Xbox Live offer some of the most advanced family settings features in the industry.
– Our best in class Family Settings tools allow parents to manage the games their children play, the rated movies they watch, and who they interact with both online and offline.
[b]
10. Enhanced matchmaking tools that mean you are matched with gamers you want to play with for the very best gaming experience[/b]
– Our pioneering matchmaking features – reputation, gamer score, game zone and TrueSkill intelligent matchmaking systems – allow skill-based matches so gamers and teams of equal skill are matched together over Xbox Live for great gaming experiences.

Xbox Live back online

October 18, 2006

News / by Chris Rasco Make a comment! / Tweet it!

I jumped on Live this morning to see if the maintenance was complete and while Xbox.com is still down, the maintenance on the Live service has been completed. Lumines Live hits XBLA today so head on over and grab that. I believe it’s going for 1200 points.

The Godfather

October 16, 2006

Reviews / Xbox 360 / by Edward Pollard Make a comment! / Tweet it!

When Electronic Arts announced that they were going to create a game out of The Godfather, groans and flippant criticisms were not far behind. It took director Frances Ford Coppola 18 years to construct his gangster trilogy, and there was deserved apprehension over the licensing of such a classic, timeless film (even if Part III was only so-so).

But when it finally landed on Playstation 2 and Xbox, fears were put to rest as Electronic Arts had, for once, used all its resources to craft a very loving and enthusiastic homage to the series. Not only did they create a respectable game out of a classic name, but they also created one that also served as an extremely solid entry into the dense library of Grand Theft Auto III clones.

Months later, it arrived on Xbox 360, and Electronic Arts deserves even more praise as this is far from a shovelware next generation upgrade. Instead, it stands as a exemplary testament to how games should be upgraded to the next generation level.

Starting on a solid foundation (you can find our Xbox review here) The Godfather for Xbox 360 is replete with subtle enhancements that are the definition of polish. Graphics are the obvious upgrade, and they do not disappoint in the slightest. Models and textures are more detailed, the world is more densely populated, and both substantially enhance the game. The story of The Godfather is very character driven, and even though this is an action title the extra attention to character details really pay off. Enhancements to explosions and particle effects are also incredibly substantial.

But the true excellence of the 360 iteration is the upgrades EA made to gameplay. There are many subtle changes one wouldn’t notice without playing the original game. AI has been noticeably tweaked for the better and there are new weapons and abilities. While they strongly advertised three extra missions, all these alterations play second fiddle to two major changes that really stand out and shine.

Merchants can now be brought into line via small side quests to earn their trust and respect, and you now have the ability to recruit a crew of gangsters to help you complete your missions. It’s not that The Godfather was really missing these elements before, but adding more options in how one completes a task certainly enhances the depth the game already had.

Oh, the game is still leaning toward the linear, and Michael Corleone still looks and sounds nothing like Al Pacino (ahh, lawyers). However this is the definitive version of The Godfather, and it is a tremendous accolade for EA’s reputation that this respects and honors the original material so well. It would be a bit much to say that this is good enough to drag people back for a second look, but if you’ve not already experienced The Godfather, this is most definitely the version to experience it with.

Score: 85%

Clash of the Titans: Online Console Gaming

October 16, 2006

Features / Opinion / by Chris Rasco Make a comment! / Tweet it!

There is no denying that Xbox Live is a success. With millions of subscribers shelling out a few bucks each month, it is a veritable cash cow for Microsoft. Sony’s model of online play has always been very hands off by simply providing methods by which the individual developers could setup and individually maintain their own online services. This worked well for games where developers considered online play a vital asset to their game and opted to offer it free of charge. It was also a huge downside in that you had to maintain different accounts with each game and possibly pay different fees for each game you wanted to play. This disjointed model was ultimately nowhere near as successful as the offering from Microsoft, which considered online gameplay a vital aspect of success in their new venture of console gaming.

This generation marked a huge shift in the feelings towards online console gaming with Nintendo and Sony announcing plans to take their consoles fully online. Nintendo had an ace up their sleeve with a library of games that people seemingly shell out money for with each new release. These classics make up the lion’s share of Nintendo’s online strategy. Selling games that have paid for themselves 100 times over for $5 a shot and you have a pure profit stream coming into an already perfect business model. It has already been proven that enthusiasts given the right tools will develop their own methods for playing games online, so even with that aspect of the equation out of the picture Nintendo’s online venture would surely be a success. Factor in their additional plans and it could very well be a goldmine.

While Nintendo has been rather forthcoming with information and details on their online aspirations, Sony hasn’t been quite so open, until today. With just a few weeks left until the launch of Sony’s next generation console, hopes and rumors of what Sony had planned were showing up everywhere. Eurogamer.net scored a nice report from Sony’s UK headquarters in London that detailed many of the aspects that gamers had been speculating about for months now.

One major difference between the PS3 and it’s younger brother, the PS2, is that the PS3 was designed from the ground up with online capabilities in mind. This means that Sony crafted an OS able to update and patch itself over the network, much like the PSP, Xbox, and Xbox 360 are capable of. Another component of a successful online implementation, unless you are Nintendo, is the hard-drive which Sony intelligently is including in all versions of the PS3. It will be interesting to see how that stacks up to Microsoft’s segmented market approach.

When booting up the PS3 you will be greeted by a familiar screen to those PSP owners in the audience. Sony took a unified approach to the interface design and basically ported the already refined PSP interface for use on the PS3. There are a few additions that represent the PS3’s expanded abilities. The PS3 is going to sport a full set of User Profile options including multiple profiles per console. Boot up the PS3 and select your profile to login. Standard fare stuff for Live users. One aspect of the PS3 online system that trumps any offering from Microsoft is the built in browser. This is surprising in that even Nintendo is including a browser. Microsoft being the only one without a browser makes me… well speechless.
Jumping back to the PlayStation Network profiles, there are 2 types of accounts: master and associated. Master accounts can be thought of primary or admin accounts. Associated accounts are useful for parents to limit spending in things like the online Store. Profiles are unique and global just as you are familiar with on Live.

Once you add friends you can do all the typical things such as checking their status and sending and receiving messages to them. Entering text uses the same PSP style keypad or you can plug in a USB keyboard just to type. I have a feeling this may be the preferred method for people who send lots of messages. In addition to text messaging, you will be able to do voice and video chats. One limitation to the messaging system is that it’s not possible to do while still in game. This may or may not be added in a future update.

The one major aspect of the Sony online offering that is drastically different from Live is the cost. Sony is launching the PlayStation Network free of charge. Yes, I said free. Gaming and online services are completely free. Sony hopes to make up the overhead through transactions via the PlayStation Store where demos and other content will cost you something instead of being free like with Live. Initial reactions say that the store looks very similar to Apple’s iTunes Store. Expect the PlayStation Store to see a lot of tweaking prior to launch in November.

From what has been released, it looks like Sony has finally lined up a potentially killer online service to help boost their online presence. It will certainly be interesting to see which model works out best, the tried and true model that has made Microsoft the behemoth in this area of the gaming industry or Sony’s free venture that is sure to shake things up. We will definitely revisit this subject after the PlayStation Network has some time to get established and people start using the service.

If you’d like to check out some of the pictures in the original article, you can check it out [url=http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=68677&page=1]here[/url].

Rule of Rose

October 16, 2006

PlayStation 2 / Reviews / by Brian Make a comment! / Tweet it!

There are certain games that when you see videos and screenshots make you say “Hey, I want to play that game.” [i]Rule of Rose[/i] was one such game for me. One night while watching Nocturnal Emissions on G4, a trailer was played for [i]Rule of Rose[/i]. The game immediately captured my eye just because of the unusual video that depicted these strange little girls, a dog, and the main female character. I thought, “Well that game sure looks twisted, I’ve got to play it!” As the saying goes “looks aren’t everything” and never has this been more evident than with [i]Rule of Rose[/i].

The premise of the game revolves around your character Jennifer and the strange children of a desolate orphanage in the woods. The children have established their own club called the Red Crayon Aristocrats. They have even established their own hierarchy/class system for each child in the orphanage. Since Jennifer is the new girl, she is placed at the bottom of the hierarchy with no rights or privileges except to do the bidding of the Aristocrat club. The club demands a new present or task must be performed monthly by the children in the lower levels. The children call their twisted monarchy the “[i]Rule of Rose[/i].”

At first the game plays just like a standard survival horror game that I’m sure most of you have played before. You move Jennifer around from room to room, opening doors, picking up items, opening doors, back tracking, opening more doors, using items and clues to solve puzzles and opening more doors. Did I already mention opening doors? Let me count, 1, 2, 3, 4 times, OK. I just wanted to make sure I don’t leave this part out about the game. Sure, I know we’re supposed to be exploring a frightening and mysterious location but do we really have to have so many doors to open? Oh that’s right; this game does the typical “you can’t open this door until later in the game” thing. This inevitably leads you to try and figure out which doors you can actually open by trying to open every single door. What a concept. Granted this isn’t a new idea to gaming and will actually be around forever, but in [i]Rule of Rose[/i] it just got old quick. When you are exploring a Zeppelin that has sleeping quarters it ends up being a ton of doors that you have to try and open.

The dog you see in the videos and pictures does actually play a huge part of the game. Once you find the dog you then are presented with an option to find items. This is done by issuing a command to the dog to have him search for the same item or an item that could be connected to the object he’s searching for. If you forget to use the find feature be prepared to keep hunting aimlessly wondering just what in the world you’re missing.

Even with the typical gameplay of exploring and backtracking, the game’s presentation & story do a commendable job of keeping you on the edge of your seat. The cutscenes in the game are some of the best that I’ve seen on the PS2. All of the cutscenes are computer generated with tremendous detail in all of the graphics from the character faces, animations, and backgrounds. The regular gameplay graphics aren’t as impressive but still shouldn’t disappoint PS2 owners. The storyline is very weird and could be questionable to some gamer’s beliefs. The game hints at bullying, animal cruelty, and at times underage sex. This definitely isn’t a game for the under 18 crowd.

The biggest pain in the rear end for [i]Rule of Rose[/i] has to be the combat. The game does a terrible job of getting you prepared for combat. You’re playing the game, searching for items when suddenly out of nowhere you’re expected to fight. The controls during combat are almost completely useless with you practically never hitting anything. I guess the collision detection is way off since I was standing next to a creature, swinging my knife several times but never hitting anything. It didn’t matter if it was just one, two, three or more creatures this problem happened all the time. Then when it comes time for a “boss battle” just forget about it since you’re probably better off hoping the game forgets you’re still alive and skips the battle.

PS2 owners looking for a game to creep them out and frustrate them at the same time won’t be disappointed with [i]Rule of Rose[/i]. If you still find it acceptable and enjoy survival horror games that play like they are from 1996 instead of 2006 then give the game a shot. Honestly though, if you must have another survival horror game for the PS2 then you probably will find some enjoyment in the game. To each their own since everyone has their own opinions and I’m sure someone will say I’m way off base regarding this game.

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