Contrarian Corner: BioShock 2

BioShock 2 (X360) Second verse better than the first, or Conveyor Belt of Murder 2: Sea of Communism.

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Contrarian Corner: BioShock 2

Week in Games: Heavy Rain’s Gonna Fall [New Releases]

Only one multiplatform release this week, that being Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing. Murder mystery thriller Heavy Rain is a noteworthy drop, on PS3 only. For PSP enthusiasts, Metal Slug XX is headed your way on Tuesday, too. This week’s count: Eight for DS, seven for PC, six for Wii, three for PS3 and Xbox 360, two for PSP. Monday (Feb. 22) Endless Ocean Blue World (Wii) Flipper (DS) Achtung Panzer: Kharkov 1943 (PC) Tuesday (Feb. 23) Arsenal of Democracy (PC) Art of Murder: Cards of Destiny (PC) Heavy Rain (PS3) Hello Kitty: Birthday Adventures (DS) Last Rebellion (PS3) Legends of Norrath: Vengeful Gods (PC) Lovely Lisa and Friends (DS) Metal Slug XX (PSP) Napoleon: Total War (PC) Pony Friends 2 (DS, Wii) Risen (360) Sled Shred featuring the Jamaican Bobsled Team (Wii) Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing (DS, PS3, Wii) Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing with Banjo-Kazooie (360) Winter Blast: Snow and Ice Games (Wii) Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s World Championship 2010 Reverse of Arcadia (DS) Wednesday (Feb. 24) Lazy Raiders (360) Thursday (Feb. 25) Age of Zombies (PSP) Dawn of Discovery: Venice (PC) Order of War: Challenge (PC) Friday (Feb. 26) Deca Sports DS (DS) The Circle: Martial Arts Fighter (Wii)

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Week in Games: Heavy Rain’s Gonna Fall [New Releases]

Why the Game is the Thing, Even for Uncharted 2 [Weekend Reader]

Many have praised Uncharted 2: Among Thieves for its story and cinematics almost to the exclusion of its gameplay. But the latter is chiefly why it was one of 2009’s finest games, argues one writer. Brice Morrison, who writes The Game Prodigy, looks at Uncharted 2 and finds a triumph of action-oriented gameplay that gives players the kinds of things they want to and will enjoy doing, yet still advancing a story sensibly without requiring all players to actively participate in its incremental developments. Some, myself included, had criticized Uncharted 2 for being a bit linear (hey, we had to criticize it for something .) But Morrison finds that to be beside the point. In a shrewd comparison to Indigo Prophecy, he argues that a good game serves what players want to do, not what designers want them to do. To that I’d add my personal perspective that Uncharted 2’s use of linearity then is a marriage of both purposes – players shoot, run, fight, find treasures, while still being pulled in the direction Naughty Dog, and the story they wrote, need players to go. But what Naughty Dog got right, Morrison said, is the gameplay, to which a video game’s story will always be subordinate. Gameplay is King: Story is Distant Second [The Game Prodigy, Jan. 29] One of the easiest way to ruin a story is to try and haphazardly shove gameplay inside of it. The problem goes that if you have an interesting story, compelling characters, plot twists and allegory, that’s all fine and good. But what you have are the ingredients for a movie or a book, not necessarily a game. It isn’t a game until the player interacts with the story in some way. And even if the story is strong, poor gameplay will make it unbearable. Developers beware focusing on the story in your game to the detriment of gameplay. In games, gameplay is king. Always. When you’re making a game and need to have the player interact with the story in some way, then it makes sense to have them focus on the parts of the story they would enjoy. In a film, this means that you want to see the couple fall in love, fight, break up, and get back together. You don’t need to see them use the restroom, get dressed, eat lunch, or turn up the air conditioning. If designers don’t pull this off correctly, the result is that the gameplay feels completely divorced from the story; the two have nothing to do with one another. Uncharted 2 did a fantastic job of this, which we will get to explaining in a moment. But before we get into how this is done right, let’s first take a look at a game that did it wrong. Back in 2005 a game was released for the Playstation 2 called Indigo Prophecy (Fahrenheit outside of the U.S.). It was a critically acclaimed mystery thriller where you played as a man who just came two after a murder. The game follows the footsteps of the murder, as well as the detectives who are trying to track him down. The production values were high: good voice acting, good visuals for the time, and the story itself was spot on. However, Indigo Prophecy doesn’t make a very good game. It sold fairly well, but that’s not the point here. Out of all of the gleaming reviews, only one reviewer got it right. All the way at the bottom of its Metacritic, one reviewer gave the game a 33/100 amid 90’s. I would argue that that reviewer was actually the most perceptive of the bunch. The problem? The gameplay had nothing to do with what players cared about. What players cared about was the mystery, the moral choices the characters were making, the fight scenes and romance scenes. But what was the gameplay? None of that. The Indigo Prophecy designers realized that they didn’t have any Base Mechanics to support these aspects of the story. So instead they force the player to perform mundane tasks. Want to speak to the police chief to learn about the killer? Well, first you need to walk upstairs and get the file. Want to woo your ex-girlfriend? First you need to get her belongings and put them by the door. The actual action was always a cutscene; the result makes the player feel like they’re being robbed. Uncharted 2 does right what Indigo Prophecy did wrong. Naughty Dog understood what players would think was exciting: the running, the jumping, the shooting, and the combat. They then built the Base Mechanics to support that. The controls were exquisite: you feel like you can do almost anything. Scale walls, find ways to climb up and down unreachable heights, sneak past guards, or take them out. You can actually get in the groove of the action and know that it is you who is deciding how to approach tactical challenges. These are action experiences that Hollywood movies dream of but could never implement. – Brice Morrison Weekend Reader is Kotaku’s look at the critical thinking in, and of video games. It appears Sundays at noon. Please take the time to read the full article cited before getting involved in the debate here.

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Why the Game is the Thing, Even for Uncharted 2 [Weekend Reader]

Rockstar’s L.A. Noire Gets "Long-Awaited Reveal" Next Month [Rockstar Games]

Team Bondi ’s long in the making L.A. Noire , the murder mystery set in “a perfectly re-created Los Angeles” of the late 1940s, will have its “long-awaited reveal” in print next month, Rockstar Games says. In addition to an official response to the “Determined Devoted Wives of Rockstar San Diego employees” allegations, Rockstar Games’ Asked & Answered column also teases a new look at L.A. Noire. “There will be something great to see soon – a proper in-depth look at the game and why it is so ground breaking and innovative, both in terms of the game’s design and the amazing new technology to support it,” Rockstar writes. “Expect to see a long-awaited reveal via a big cover story next month.” Safe money on the possible print publication is Game Informer, Rockstar’s go-to game mag for cover stories (see Grand Theft Auto IV , Max Payne 3 ). Next month’s story would be the first time we’ve heard, well, just about anything since L.A. Noire’s original announcement and its official delay , other than that the game is coming along ” splendidly .” With Take-Two Interactive still not listing L.A. Noire on its fiscal year release list, recently moving an unnamed “triple-A title out of the fiscal year” we don’t expect to see the game actually shipping any time soon. But, hey, it’s been almost five years already. We’re patient. Asked & Answered – Re: Red Dead Redemption, L.A. Noire, Rockstar San Diego and More [Rockstar Games]

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Rockstar’s L.A. Noire Gets "Long-Awaited Reveal" Next Month [Rockstar Games]

Rumor: "Leaked" Halo: Reach Beta Boot-Up Clip Introduces "Murder Mode" [Update] [Rumor]

Halo: Reach is forthcoming. It will be out later this year. One individual is already leaking beta footage onto the internet. The footage is of the game booting up. There is no game play footage. The screen carries a message which reads: Welcome to the Halo: Reach Public Beta, the experience you are about to enjoy is an early sample of a few multiplayer and single-player levels from Halo: Reach, launching exclusively on Xbox 360 later this year. Until then, drive into Activities or Campaign and have a blast. However, the leaked clip does introduce a new mode called “Murder Mode”. From the tip description: “Use the Murder Mode to kill an enemy without being spotted.” The Halo franchise is getting a stealth kill mode, it seems. Then the clip fades to black, and players can hear game audio. It’s all choreographed well. Maybe a little too well. The footage shows the game running on a Samsung TV — just like Microsoft uses at demo kiosks and trade show events. Is the clip internal? There is no gameplay footage, which might be the only way that the clip could avoid possible infringement, but this could be for another reason entirely: to tease a new a new gameplay feature and build viral hype. Or it could, you know, just be a leak. If it’s real, that is. Update: According to Microsoft, “Murder Mode” is a complete fabrication. Leaked Halo: Reach Beta Video – “Murder Mode” Detailed [Xbox Evolved via VG247 ]

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Rumor: "Leaked" Halo: Reach Beta Boot-Up Clip Introduces "Murder Mode" [Update] [Rumor]

Rumor: "Leaked" Halo: Reach Beta Boot-Up Clip Introduces "Murder Mode" [Update] [Rumor]

Halo: Reach is forthcoming. It will be out later this year. One individual is already leaking beta footage onto the internet. The footage is of the game booting up. There is no game play footage. The screen carries a message which reads: Welcome to the Halo: Reach Public Beta, the experience you are about to enjoy is an early sample of a few multiplayer and single-player levels from Halo: Reach, launching exclusively on Xbox 360 later this year. Until then, drive into Activities or Campaign and have a blast. However, the leaked clip does introduce a new mode called “Murder Mode”. From the tip description: “Use the Murder Mode to kill an enemy without being spotted.” The Halo franchise is getting a stealth kill mode, it seems. Then the clip fades to black, and players can hear game audio. It’s all choreographed well. Maybe a little too well. The footage shows the game running on a Samsung TV — just like Microsoft uses at demo kiosks and trade show events. Is the clip internal? There is no gameplay footage, which might be the only way that the clip could avoid possible infringement, but this could be for another reason entirely: to tease a new a new gameplay feature and build viral hype. Or it could, you know, just be a leak. If it’s real, that is. Update: According to Microsoft, “Murder Mode” is a complete fabrication. Leaked Halo: Reach Beta Video – “Murder Mode” Detailed [Xbox Evolved via VG247 ]

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Rumor: "Leaked" Halo: Reach Beta Boot-Up Clip Introduces "Murder Mode" [Update] [Rumor]

Family Guy Teaches Us How to Drive — Using Grand Theft Auto [Clips]

Last night on a very special Family Guy : When Peter loses his memory, he needs to re-learn everything. That includes driving. Trouble follows when Lois hooks him up to the murder simulator. By the way, can you tell that’s a hooker? It’s a hooker. Look how she’s dressed. Peter Uses Grand Theft Auto as a Driving Tutorial on Family Guy [Gawker.TV]

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Family Guy Teaches Us How to Drive — Using Grand Theft Auto [Clips]

Argument Over Game Blamed as Nine-Year-Old Stabbed to Death [Murder]

Police and relatives say an argument over Tony Hawk: Ride precipitated a shocking murder in New York ; Anthony Maldonado, 9, (pictured) who got a PS3 for Christmas, was stabbed in the chest by an enraged 25-year-old early New Year’s Day. The specifics of what sent Alejandro Morales, 25, into a murderous rage are unclear. The attack happened at 3:30 a.m. The Daily News of New York spoke to the dead boy’s family and they leave no doubt that an argument over the game was the cause. “Anthony was playing … on PlayStation when his friend came and stabbed him. My grandson died over a video game,” Antonio Juela, 59, Anthony’s grandfather, told the Daily News. Police said Anthony was slashed in the face and stabbed several times, indicating there may have been a struggle before he was stabbed in the chest. He was taken to the hospital but died within an hour. Anthony had been playing Tony Hawk: Ride with Morales and two men whom Anthony’s parents said were Morales’ brothers. The three rent an apartment in the same building, they said. At some point, two of the brothers left to go get something to eat, leaving Morales with the boy. The attack occurred while they were alone and Anthony’s family was asleep. This is a sickening and sad story, and you can’t read about a 25-year-old man doing anything to a fourth-grader, much less attacking him with a knife, without feeling a powerful revulsion, if not outright hatred of the accused. But while I don’t mean to be “that guy,” the video game is only incidental to the cause here. A violent man willing to stab a 9-year-old over such a trivial argument could have killed him or anyone else for any of several other reasons. It’s still a very sad and germane detail – a child stabbed while playing a game he got for Christmas – but it’s not the reason. Anthony Maldonado, 9, Stabbed to Death over Video Game while Visiting Family in Harlem [Daily News, New York, via DualShockers ] [Image Credit: Fevelo for Daily News ]

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Argument Over Game Blamed as Nine-Year-Old Stabbed to Death [Murder]

Chinese TV Goes All Fox News Over Online PC Games [PC]

China Central Television last week broadcast a show called “Confession of a Murderer: Focus on Pornography and Violence in Online Games”. You know where this is going. CCTV is China’s state news channel, and the program (the second part in a series), which visited a juvenile prison to speak with those apparently influenced by the titles in question, blames online video games for contributing to everything from teen pregnancy to drug addiction to murder. The timing of the program is no coincidence, as Chinese bodies have spent much of 2009 cracking down on online games, banning some titles while suspending others. Even the mighty World of Warcraft has been in the government’s sights, shutting down for 3 months earlier in the year and more recently being the subject of a to-and-fro between two competing government agencies. China Blames Online Games for Drugs, Murder, Teen Pregnancy [Yahoo]

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Chinese TV Goes All Fox News Over Online PC Games [PC]

Chinese TV Goes All Fox News Over Online PC Games [PC]

China Central Television last week broadcast a show called “Confession of a Murderer: Focus on Pornography and Violence in Online Games”. You know where this is going. CCTV is China’s state news channel, and the program (the second part in a series), which visited a juvenile prison to speak with those apparently influenced by the titles in question, blames online video games for contributing to everything from teen pregnancy to drug addiction to murder. The timing of the program is no coincidence, as Chinese bodies have spent much of 2009 cracking down on online games, banning some titles while suspending others. Even the mighty World of Warcraft has been in the government’s sights, shutting down for 3 months earlier in the year and more recently being the subject of a to-and-fro between two competing government agencies. China Blames Online Games for Drugs, Murder, Teen Pregnancy [Yahoo]

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Chinese TV Goes All Fox News Over Online PC Games [PC]

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