While Sony has made several blunders in the current gen console war one of the biggest was allowing Call of Duty 4 to go multi-platform. The game has become such a runaway success that it could have single-handedly changed the face of the war as we know it. Perhaps equally as big was allowing Grand Theft Auto 4 to go multi-platform. Although the game sold about 45/55%  on the PS3 and Xbox 360 respectively, there are rumblings that the next installment in the GTA series may become a Playstation exclusive by default.

Wait, what the hell are you talking about?

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There I was, circa 2003 installing a little game called ‘Soldier Of Fortune II’. I’d played the previous version and had hours of fun blasting limbs from as far as I could tell a legion of douchebags in wifebeaters and SS wannabees. The install finished and within the first 15 minutes of playing I was having fun manually chopping pieces of my downed foes skull off in something that Ed Gein would get an erection over. See kids, there was this magic time around when publishers didn’t really have to appease the ratings boards as strictly and things like SOF and even Half Life were just expected to be able to turn your opponents into a bloody mess of giblets with a grenade or in some cases a crowbar.

Now it seems that game developers are more focused on creating overly subversive stories instead on giving the player a little more poignant realism in the form of optional total bodily dismemberment. Yeah sure there are still gibs in UT3 and God Of War has bloody decapitations but all in all after being a gore hound for these earlier games they just strike me as a little weak. Which brings me to my next point:

The all powerful, game stomping, fail-safe line of the A-O rating. Publishers shy away from this because there’s a good chance that their product will be outlawed in several countries as well as shunned by retailers. But if you’ve gotten around to playing Madworld you’ll see the same argument that hack directors make when they want to show their cocks in their terribly pretentious arthouse film. And that is; ‘It’s pornography unless it’s artistic.’ This is why Madhouse ever came about the way it did and on that system. Considering that the Wii is barely above the PS2 in graphics power I have a feeling that this game could have been done far more violently years ago for the aforementioned system. (continue reading…)

Lately, I’ve been hearing a lot of bullshit about this generation sucking and people waxing nostalgic about the last gen as the pinnacle of gaming. Let me just say, I’ve been around the block for a long time. I can assure you, this generation isn’t as good as the last generation; Not because this generation sucks, but because it isn’t even over yet. We are only 3/4 years into what will ultimately be an approximately a 10 year generation. Now, I’m going to field a couple of complaints about this generation and tell you why you all suck for complaining.

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NOTE: I’m going to use 360 terminologies in this article, because that is what I play.  It will undoubtedly apply to the PS3’s Trophy system as well, though.

Not too long ago kids would gather in the school cafeteria and talk about the latest game they had played.  They discussed strategies.  They bragged about how far they gotten without dying.  They called ‘BS’ when somebody claimed to have made a complete run on release day.  Games were played because they were fun.

Then Microsoft introduced Achievements and the whole thing went to hell in a hand basket.

There is no way I can go on the interwebz and even hint that the Achievement system may have problems without getting flamed, so I’ll go ahead and slip on my Nomex underwear while you follow the cut.

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In the world of boardroom meetings, the topic of huge, sweaty men slamming into each other and grappling powerfully often comes up, but not since THQ has one company’s success so heavily depended on this practice. Nevertheless it has dogged the ascent of Capcom, swinging them aloft over its head and it will be there one day when they fall, to deliver the head-exploding final blow.
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The streets are flowing with the blood of the innocents, two sides are fighting to what seems an everlasting war, a war that rages on for only a few years, yet they have the same goal – to entertain. Yeah, to entertain ungrateful people who think there is a war between the casual and hardcore gaming market. There’s a lot of gripe lately on how the casuals (the games and the people) are killing the gaming industry. To tell truth, the hardcore consumers are as much to blame as the casual ones. (continue reading…)

The rise of technology with the industrial revolution came about the assembly line, often used in factories to quickly make, build, and send off the factory’s product; be it cars, electronics, weapons, and even video games. The same and formulaic games often do seem like they just came hot off the assembly line that they get their very own genre beneath what they suppose to be – The WWII shooter, The Hack n Slash, Shovelware, etc. Of course with the Wii being the new fangled device that everyone must have and Nintendo being at the zenith of profits came about the truckload of shovelware. That is, the current trend, and trends come and go so the factories need to replace their rubber stamps to fit the new trend of games they must shovel out.
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Part 1 – What Have Wii Become?

I had been aiming to write something like this but found some of the key points I’d touch on already addressed in Alex’s “A Second Video Game Crash?” I suppose I’ve got enough to say that makes it worthy of its own article so without further ado; here is my take on what’s happening in the game industry…TODAY.

While I may not be some sort of untouchable, game industry guru, I, like many of you, carry within me a passion for video games that burns so strongly we believe it can guide us through the stagnant and uncertain time our hobby faces.

The Wii is plagued with shovelware so abundant that some would try and use it to define the system. Microsoft and Sony have been practically offering the same thing they have been for the past few years and while this may not sound like a bad thing to some people, those that have developed the insight to think ahead will see the problem with this sort of planning.

I’m going to focus on matter of the Wii before I address the potential folly of Microsoft and Sony. The Wii has been a ridiculous success. With the least amount of graphical prowess it has become the best selling console, like the PS2 was last generation, and sold so well that Nintendo can even boast that Wii Sports has sold even more than the original Super Mario Bros. On this silver cloud of new exciting things is a dark lining of reluctant publishers and confused developers that are not only unsure how to approach the Wii but don’t seem to understand the audience that have carried it to victory.

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Okay, the last 30 or so FPS games I’ve played fit into three categories of shittily tacked on music and I’m wondering what gives? It all sounds the same after awhile with a few composers that stick out; namely Inon Zur, Jesper Kyd, and Harry Gregson-Williams. You’ve got your vaguely Dark Ambient bits, the trip-hop middle sections, and the EPIC SHOOTOUT MUSIC. I am a PC gamer through and through and over the years I’ve seen a few changes in video game music. Firstly, when I picked up an Xbox when it was still cool to like Halo there was an awesome thing that you could do in certain games that supported it. That was rip your own music onto the hard drive and listen to it while you play said game. I’m pretty sure the only reason I got so heavily into Unreal Tournament back in the day was because I could blast Ministry’s ‘N.W.O.’ through winAmp while floating around with an instagib rifle at high speeds zapping things to a bloody pulp on the other side of a huge custom map. Okay well it wasn’t just the music. But when Trent Reznor did the soundtrack for Quake my giblets quivered with the possibility of fragging baddies to finally some apt tunes. And they were, it was awesome just like that Way Of The Warrior game soundtrack that White Zombie did. Well maybe not AS awesome but you get the picture.

As I play more and more current games(admittedly more horror based ones than others) I find there are only a few that really utilized something as simple as a soundtrack. Dead Space did amazingly with this, with an explosion of screams from what seemed a cacophony of violins whenever a biomorph would get dangerously close. Fallout 3 uses a very backseated version of this by giving you non situational radio stations to tune into which is an alright method but loses something when a very creepy atmosphere is interrupted by a guy howling like a recently neutered dog in your ears. Music is always a matter of taste and I guess that a lot of games don’t match their music either. Don’t make me mention the worst decision in game music I’ve heard in awhile (continue reading…)

EA is going to release Dead Space for the Wii. Word of this has probably spread like wildfire and there might be very few who haven’t heard this news, but there is no news like good news!  Dead Space was released for PS3 and XBox 360 October of last year and the decision to put it on the Wii means that the developer and publisher feels Isaac Clarke and the Necromorphs aren’t done yet. Does this mean the sales for both consoles didn’t meet their expectations? Probably! Should we expect additional content? Who knows!

While details are slim and all that has been said from EA is that there will be a Dead Space for the Wii it’s a safe bet that Dead Space will use the Wii remote’s pointer and allow the player to get even more precision in dismembering the horrors above the USG Ishimura. Considering the nature of Dead Space and the core gameplay similarities, over the shoulder shooter, it shares with Capcom’s Resident Evil 4 (which was also released later on the Wii) it wouldn’t be much of a stretch to assume it might play much like Resident Evil 4: Wii edition.

Last year EA demonstrated they were a little more than another uninspiring, sequel factory when they released two new intellectual properties, Dead Space and Mirror’s Edge. With some sort of awareness of quality within the company there’s hope that Dead Space for Wii won’t be a diluted port.