Now that I'm done with school for the week, I'm driving to Seattle for PAX :) I'll be posting impressions on the demos and trailers premiering at PAX, such as Halo 4, Gears of War: Judgement, and Dishonored. If any other games are announced, I'll be sure to write about them.
-Frankie out.
Friday, August 31, 2012
Thursday, August 30, 2012
BREAKING: Brand New MGS Game Announced
Staying up late on a school night has paid off!
Hot off the presses is the announcement of a brand new Metal Gear Solid game now, though not sure if official or tentative, name Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes. Several tweets were posted about the game from people fortunate enough to attend the 25th anniversary event of the MGS series in Japan today. According to the tweets, the game is an open world stealth game. The demo was purportedly running on current-gen pc specs (what that entails, I don't know) showing off the power of the new Fox Engine that will be running the new game.
The demo began with a cutscene that featured Snake, in Naked Snake/Big Boss attire, stealthy moving around a complex, then transitioned into gameplay. If caught, Snake would then need to find a way to escape the complex. The game was beautiful, according to some tweets flooding in now.
The most amazing part? The Fox Engine is designed for current gen hardware. This game can come out next year, people. A brand new Metal Gear Solid, that doesn't star Raiden, could come out as the Swan Song for this generation before we transition over. If this game does come out 2013...wow. I really hope some more images, or even a video, can find it's way onto the web tonight.
Here's to hoping people :)
-Frankie out.
Hot off the presses is the announcement of a brand new Metal Gear Solid game now, though not sure if official or tentative, name Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes. Several tweets were posted about the game from people fortunate enough to attend the 25th anniversary event of the MGS series in Japan today. According to the tweets, the game is an open world stealth game. The demo was purportedly running on current-gen pc specs (what that entails, I don't know) showing off the power of the new Fox Engine that will be running the new game.
The demo began with a cutscene that featured Snake, in Naked Snake/Big Boss attire, stealthy moving around a complex, then transitioned into gameplay. If caught, Snake would then need to find a way to escape the complex. The game was beautiful, according to some tweets flooding in now.
The most amazing part? The Fox Engine is designed for current gen hardware. This game can come out next year, people. A brand new Metal Gear Solid, that doesn't star Raiden, could come out as the Swan Song for this generation before we transition over. If this game does come out 2013...wow. I really hope some more images, or even a video, can find it's way onto the web tonight.
Here's to hoping people :)
-Frankie out.
Sunday, August 26, 2012
#Rageface: Countdowns
There's something about countdowns that always gets me. It's something about seeing numbers counting down to something that gets then anticipation going in me, so much so that I write multiple articles with the same title. My mind especially gets going when I see a big name attached to it, like Square Enix.
As I wrote before, Square had launched a new countdown site that teased something with my favorite DS game, The World Ends With You. Today, as the countdown ended, it revealed that The World Ends With You was coming to iOS...for $18. From the use of the characters in Kingdom Hearts 3D, I figured this countdown had something to do with the inherit sequel that TWEWY really deserves on the 3DS, or Wii U, or whatever. I see what Square is trying to do by taking the game out of its cult following and making it a legitimate mainstream hit on multiple platforms, but the game's original control method was what made the game truly original. An iOS port did not need so much hype.
Square also has another "countdown" of sorts for a new Final Fantasy 13 game that will be announced on September 1. Square did the same sort of announcement last year while teasing the Tomb Raider reboot. These two might be successful, no doubt for Tomb Raider, and the countdowns were very well performed, too.
What really angers me is when a countdown just leads to another countdown. I remember Konami did that with what is now Metal Gear Solid Rising: Revengeance. One countdown lead to another for multiple weeks. The payoff was big, but it was too much. If you want to make a really long-form anticipation machine, start an ARG. I love ARG's, and I know of forums dedicated to just ARG's, like the popular Halo 3 ARG.
Or just make a big announcement :)
-Frankie out.
As I wrote before, Square had launched a new countdown site that teased something with my favorite DS game, The World Ends With You. Today, as the countdown ended, it revealed that The World Ends With You was coming to iOS...for $18. From the use of the characters in Kingdom Hearts 3D, I figured this countdown had something to do with the inherit sequel that TWEWY really deserves on the 3DS, or Wii U, or whatever. I see what Square is trying to do by taking the game out of its cult following and making it a legitimate mainstream hit on multiple platforms, but the game's original control method was what made the game truly original. An iOS port did not need so much hype.
Square also has another "countdown" of sorts for a new Final Fantasy 13 game that will be announced on September 1. Square did the same sort of announcement last year while teasing the Tomb Raider reboot. These two might be successful, no doubt for Tomb Raider, and the countdowns were very well performed, too.
What really angers me is when a countdown just leads to another countdown. I remember Konami did that with what is now Metal Gear Solid Rising: Revengeance. One countdown lead to another for multiple weeks. The payoff was big, but it was too much. If you want to make a really long-form anticipation machine, start an ARG. I love ARG's, and I know of forums dedicated to just ARG's, like the popular Halo 3 ARG.
Or just make a big announcement :)
-Frankie out.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Purgatory
I realized I've hit a slump, one I don't think I'll be able to get out of until this fall...
I recently completed Mass Effect 3 (a little late to the party, but whatever). I completed the story of my Shepard that I've been keeping up since the original. I had my wisdom teeth taken out, so I figured recovery time equals more Xbox time, so I went crazy. I spent hours completing the story, with the occasional break on multiplayer to get my galactic readiness up. But after all the hours spent saving the universe, it was over.
The end.
I've attempted to play video games afterward, but nothing is very satiating. Dust: An Elysian Tale is a bore, and a disappointment; I really only forge in Halo: Reach anymore, although the multiplayer is fun; nothing seems fun anymore. I think I might just be burned out from gaming right now. I was even super excited for the launch of Counter Strike for XBLA, bought it today, played for half an hour, and turned it off. I couldn't do it. It just didn't feel fun.
Has this ever happened to you? My oh so miniscule reader base? Have you been burned-out of video games? I'm really hoping this gestation period ends soon. I think I'll be satiated when Dishonored launches in October, the same day as my birthday :)
Leave your burn out story in the comments, and share this with your buddies and stuff. I need readers, dammit :P
-Frankie out.
I recently completed Mass Effect 3 (a little late to the party, but whatever). I completed the story of my Shepard that I've been keeping up since the original. I had my wisdom teeth taken out, so I figured recovery time equals more Xbox time, so I went crazy. I spent hours completing the story, with the occasional break on multiplayer to get my galactic readiness up. But after all the hours spent saving the universe, it was over.
The end.
I've attempted to play video games afterward, but nothing is very satiating. Dust: An Elysian Tale is a bore, and a disappointment; I really only forge in Halo: Reach anymore, although the multiplayer is fun; nothing seems fun anymore. I think I might just be burned out from gaming right now. I was even super excited for the launch of Counter Strike for XBLA, bought it today, played for half an hour, and turned it off. I couldn't do it. It just didn't feel fun.
Has this ever happened to you? My oh so miniscule reader base? Have you been burned-out of video games? I'm really hoping this gestation period ends soon. I think I'll be satiated when Dishonored launches in October, the same day as my birthday :)
Leave your burn out story in the comments, and share this with your buddies and stuff. I need readers, dammit :P
-Frankie out.
Monday, August 20, 2012
Anticipation :)
So, just a few moments ago, while Googling around, I discovered that Square Enix has posted up a new countdown teaser site that looks awfully familiar to something I hold very near and dear to my DS...
The source code states that the character designs are by Tetsuya Nomura and Gen Kobayashi: the two designers from the original TWEWY. The countdown says 6 days, 9 hours, and 40 minutes from the time of this posting, so we'll have to wait until then to discover what Square has in store for THE GREATEST DS GAME EVVEEERRRR!!!
...
...
not really professional, but I don't care. I love this game :)
-Frankie out.
The source code states that the character designs are by Tetsuya Nomura and Gen Kobayashi: the two designers from the original TWEWY. The countdown says 6 days, 9 hours, and 40 minutes from the time of this posting, so we'll have to wait until then to discover what Square has in store for THE GREATEST DS GAME EVVEEERRRR!!!
...
...
not really professional, but I don't care. I love this game :)
-Frankie out.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Hybrid: Impressions
In simple terms, I like Hybrid. I think it's derived from my joy of Jeremiah Slaczka's work. He's one of the unsung revolutionaries of this gaming generation. Although some of his franchises have been beaten like a dead horse (Drawn to Life, soon-to-be Scribblenauts), his ideas have been amazing. So, in 2010 when he announced that 5th Cell would be leaving the kid-friendly DS games for a third-person shooter, people were surprised...and then all coverage fell off the map. Game writers didn't seem to care. Then, the Summer of Arcade line-up was revealed and everyone started caring again.
Hybrid is a sort-of deconstruction of the third-person-cover-shooter genre. While games like Gears of War and Spec Ops: The Line leave you to hide behind cover and run around the battlefield freely, Hybrid streamlines that to just cover. With your jetpack (which instantly bumps up the cool factor of the game) you fly from cover-to-cover shooting your opponents. While some would think it takes away your freedom, it instead makes action much faster and hectic. You can change course in mid-flight and change your destination, as well as strafe around as you fly. Once you arrive at cover, you can vault and move around while locked to the cover. Shooting mechanics will be instantly familiar to anyone that has ever played a third-person shooter ever. Blindfire, aiming, reloading, all the same. A killstreak mechanic has been placed where kills allow you to summon robots to the battlefield. One kill gets you a small drone, three for a larger death machine, and five for a robo-ninja that can kill anyone instantly (robo-ninjas also make this game that much cooler). There is also an ability mechanic that allows you to choose a special ability to take into combat. Whether you be selfish and get an ability for yourself, or if you choose a support ability to help the team, it's up to you. The abilities add a strategic element to the game. If you don't like your current load out, you can always change it while you wait to respawn.
Where the game starts getting really interesting is in the social mechanics built into the game. Each bout is part of a larger on-going conflict. The two factions of which names I do not remember right now are fighting for dark energy that does...something. The near-nonexistent story is crap, quite honestly, but it together this awesome mechanic. The world is separated into different sections where the two factions are competing to this large amount of dark energy. All the experience gained in battle gets your faction on closer to the energy. The closer you get, the more xp bonuses you get for being in the "hotzone". Then, at the end of each season (which I think ends once the energy is collected in each zone) everything is reset. You keep your levels, but not your rank. The winning team also unlocks a special golden dragon helmet while the losing team gets a paper bag.
It's good the dev's can still be funny :)
The unlock system is probably the only thing I'd consider bad about the game. Although none of the podcasts we've recorded have been posted, I have this strong dislike of free-to-play games; a hatred I will write about another time. Anyway, the unlock system is based off of levels. Every level, you gain one unlock key to unlock something out of different categories. Until you gain that key, each item has a little gold-block-thingy next to it that represents credits.
Credits that cost money.
Now, everything can be unlocked normally without having to spend Microsoft Points, it just takes dedication. The credit system allows someone to buy the same item someone probably spent hours working towards. I really don't like that, but as I wrote earlier, that can be saved for another time.
Hybrid is an amazingly fast-paced third-person shooter that reinvigorates the genre with new mechanics that could lead the way to grander gameplay for next generation. This game is heavily reliant on people playing it, so go buy this game and fight the good fight :)
-Frankie out.
Hybrid is a sort-of deconstruction of the third-person-cover-shooter genre. While games like Gears of War and Spec Ops: The Line leave you to hide behind cover and run around the battlefield freely, Hybrid streamlines that to just cover. With your jetpack (which instantly bumps up the cool factor of the game) you fly from cover-to-cover shooting your opponents. While some would think it takes away your freedom, it instead makes action much faster and hectic. You can change course in mid-flight and change your destination, as well as strafe around as you fly. Once you arrive at cover, you can vault and move around while locked to the cover. Shooting mechanics will be instantly familiar to anyone that has ever played a third-person shooter ever. Blindfire, aiming, reloading, all the same. A killstreak mechanic has been placed where kills allow you to summon robots to the battlefield. One kill gets you a small drone, three for a larger death machine, and five for a robo-ninja that can kill anyone instantly (robo-ninjas also make this game that much cooler). There is also an ability mechanic that allows you to choose a special ability to take into combat. Whether you be selfish and get an ability for yourself, or if you choose a support ability to help the team, it's up to you. The abilities add a strategic element to the game. If you don't like your current load out, you can always change it while you wait to respawn.
Where the game starts getting really interesting is in the social mechanics built into the game. Each bout is part of a larger on-going conflict. The two factions of which names I do not remember right now are fighting for dark energy that does...something. The near-nonexistent story is crap, quite honestly, but it together this awesome mechanic. The world is separated into different sections where the two factions are competing to this large amount of dark energy. All the experience gained in battle gets your faction on closer to the energy. The closer you get, the more xp bonuses you get for being in the "hotzone". Then, at the end of each season (which I think ends once the energy is collected in each zone) everything is reset. You keep your levels, but not your rank. The winning team also unlocks a special golden dragon helmet while the losing team gets a paper bag.
It's good the dev's can still be funny :)
The unlock system is probably the only thing I'd consider bad about the game. Although none of the podcasts we've recorded have been posted, I have this strong dislike of free-to-play games; a hatred I will write about another time. Anyway, the unlock system is based off of levels. Every level, you gain one unlock key to unlock something out of different categories. Until you gain that key, each item has a little gold-block-thingy next to it that represents credits.
Credits that cost money.
Now, everything can be unlocked normally without having to spend Microsoft Points, it just takes dedication. The credit system allows someone to buy the same item someone probably spent hours working towards. I really don't like that, but as I wrote earlier, that can be saved for another time.
Hybrid is an amazingly fast-paced third-person shooter that reinvigorates the genre with new mechanics that could lead the way to grander gameplay for next generation. This game is heavily reliant on people playing it, so go buy this game and fight the good fight :)
-Frankie out.
So...
It's been a while since anything has been posted. I think I'll go on a posting spree today since I'm incredibly bored. Post frequency might increase a lot next week since I'll be out of commission after my surgery. I'll probably write about my impressions of Hybrid, the new XBLA game, and my hopes for PAX 2012 coming up in a couple weeks :)
-Frankie out.
-Frankie out.
Friday, August 3, 2012
Kingdom Hearts 3D: Impressions
According to my newest save, I've logged in about 4.5 hours into this new Kingdom Hearts game. So far, I've run into characters from my favorite DS game (The World Ends With You); fallen asleep a few times; made friends with a bat, cat, and a spiky thingy; and defeated a giant flying monkey.
It's awesome.
The last 3DS game I bought was Kid Icarus because I couldn't afford to throw down money on Super Mario and Mario Kart. Kid Icarus had fast, frantic on-rails action that slowed down to hard-to-control, on-foot gameplay. Don't get me wrong, I still love that game. I kick ass at multiplayer too :) but once I started playing Kingdom Hearts, my connection with my 3DS had rekindled.
Unlike the last DS entries in the series, you don't play as Roxas or a digital copy of Sora, you are Sora, and Riku. This game takes place, in the cannon, as the newest entry. Sora and Riku are off to become Keyblade masters. I would tell you more, but that's really all of the story I've gotten so far. As with most Kingdom Hearts games, I don't expect the story to totally make sense up until the player reaches the midway point.
Since it's the newest game in the cannon, it would make sense that it has the most refined gameplay. The command deck system allows for faster gameplay to make all the fights seem that much more epic. It seems like this is how the developers can attach the ATB system from Final Fantasy IV or Final Fantasy XIII into a more real time game. Another gameplay element added is Flowmotion. Flowmotion makes Sora or Riku all purple and sparkly. When they become purple and sparkly, they become total overpowered badasses that can fly around the stage, laying waste to any Dream Eater that stands in their path...
...yeah, Flowmotion is pretty cool. It makes gameplay much faster. Being able to fly around the area makes traversal quicker and more fun. It also makes exploration enjoyable without any shoe-horned, frustrating platforming. The camera can still be a little wonky at times, but that's to be expected with Kingdom Hearts games.
This game is beautiful. As proven with Metal Gear Solid 3D, the 3DS can match the graphical power of a PS2 - IN 3D!!! This game looks equally as good as Kingdom Hearts II. The game also provides new areas of existing locales to explore. New areas of Traverse Town and the Grid. I can't speak for the rest of the game (I'm not there yet :P) but I assume there will be other cool places to kill Dream Eaters in.
It may be the fact that I love the Kingdom Hearts series or that it's just a good game, but I recommend this game for anyone with a 3DS. Good games for the system seem pretty stagnant other than New Super Mario Bros. 2 and Luigi's Mansion. So to quench your 3D thirst, pick up this game.
-Frankie out.
It's awesome.
The last 3DS game I bought was Kid Icarus because I couldn't afford to throw down money on Super Mario and Mario Kart. Kid Icarus had fast, frantic on-rails action that slowed down to hard-to-control, on-foot gameplay. Don't get me wrong, I still love that game. I kick ass at multiplayer too :) but once I started playing Kingdom Hearts, my connection with my 3DS had rekindled.
Unlike the last DS entries in the series, you don't play as Roxas or a digital copy of Sora, you are Sora, and Riku. This game takes place, in the cannon, as the newest entry. Sora and Riku are off to become Keyblade masters. I would tell you more, but that's really all of the story I've gotten so far. As with most Kingdom Hearts games, I don't expect the story to totally make sense up until the player reaches the midway point.
Since it's the newest game in the cannon, it would make sense that it has the most refined gameplay. The command deck system allows for faster gameplay to make all the fights seem that much more epic. It seems like this is how the developers can attach the ATB system from Final Fantasy IV or Final Fantasy XIII into a more real time game. Another gameplay element added is Flowmotion. Flowmotion makes Sora or Riku all purple and sparkly. When they become purple and sparkly, they become total overpowered badasses that can fly around the stage, laying waste to any Dream Eater that stands in their path...
...yeah, Flowmotion is pretty cool. It makes gameplay much faster. Being able to fly around the area makes traversal quicker and more fun. It also makes exploration enjoyable without any shoe-horned, frustrating platforming. The camera can still be a little wonky at times, but that's to be expected with Kingdom Hearts games.
This game is beautiful. As proven with Metal Gear Solid 3D, the 3DS can match the graphical power of a PS2 - IN 3D!!! This game looks equally as good as Kingdom Hearts II. The game also provides new areas of existing locales to explore. New areas of Traverse Town and the Grid. I can't speak for the rest of the game (I'm not there yet :P) but I assume there will be other cool places to kill Dream Eaters in.
It may be the fact that I love the Kingdom Hearts series or that it's just a good game, but I recommend this game for anyone with a 3DS. Good games for the system seem pretty stagnant other than New Super Mario Bros. 2 and Luigi's Mansion. So to quench your 3D thirst, pick up this game.
-Frankie out.
UPDATE!
Haven't been keeping this updated as much as I'd like to, but it's because we've all been so busy! I was away at a business camp for a week, the Olympics are on, and I picked up the new Kingdom Hearts game for my 3DS on Wednesday. KINGDOM HEARTS!!!
You wouldn't necessarily know my love for kingdom hearts since our podcast has yet to be posted, but it should be up...
.
.
.
soon...hopefully. No promises there. I'll talk to the editor.
Until then, this has been your Geekly Weekly update. I'll probably make a post later about this business camp and my impressions on Kingdom Hearts 3D, but until then, I'm gonna go watch some swimming, because that's really all that's on until track starts tonight. Yay :)
Frankie out.
You wouldn't necessarily know my love for kingdom hearts since our podcast has yet to be posted, but it should be up...
.
.
.
soon...hopefully. No promises there. I'll talk to the editor.
Until then, this has been your Geekly Weekly update. I'll probably make a post later about this business camp and my impressions on Kingdom Hearts 3D, but until then, I'm gonna go watch some swimming, because that's really all that's on until track starts tonight. Yay :)
Frankie out.
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