Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Friday, March 12th, 2010
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So, this Move . I’m pretty sure it brings nothing new to the party. That’s too bad, because the PS3 is starting to take off (after three lackluster years) and it would have helped push units if they had an innovative motion control system. I mean, not everyone is into the motion controllers , but… seriously, Sony. It’s a Wiimote . Don’t even try to tell me it’s different. The only real difference I can see is that the camera is on the TV rather than in the remote. But that’s not really important. What’s important is that this controller does absolutely nothing new. I mean, it’s used in the exact same way as a Wiimote. It lends itself to the same control schemes as the Wiimote. It’s the same size and shape as the Wiimote. Its method of determining motion and position is similar to the Wiimote’s. Tell me what is possible with the Move that is not possible with the Wiimote? There are two points I’ll gladly yield. The motion sensors in the Move are almost certainly a bit better than Nintendo’s (though the MotionPlus negates some of those gains). And the PS3 is of course far superior in graphics and we might, for example, get an adult-themed sword-based game where enemies don’t shoot sparks and disappear when you cut them. I don’t want to sound ghoulish, but come on. It’s a sword . Gizmodo notes that multiplayer is a little gimped . Yeah, a bit, but no more than the Wii, I think. I’d say that the “sweet spot” that exists for the Move is more limiting to multiplayer than anything else. I’m not sure of the Eye’s field of view, but can four people really fit in it comfortably while flailing around? The benefit of the Wii method is that the “eye” is in the controller, meaning as long as you’re pointing at the TV, you’re good. I was pumped for the Move until I figured out (a couple months ago) that it wasn’t going to actually offer anything new to developers. Maybe there will be a few cool hardcore games that wouldn’t fit graphically or tonewise on the Wii, but they’re not opening up any new horizons. Let’s hope Natal doesn’t disappoint. I understand Microsoft is going to be leaning on it as a whole new control method for its whole lineup, so we can probably expect some pretty good stuff. And of course there’s Razer and Sixense’s sweet-looking magnet thing . Until then I’ll be sticking with my SNES.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Thursday, March 11th, 2010
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It’s Tecmo Bowl, but on your Xbox 360 or PS3. And without the NFL-licensed players and teams. But with a 3D-style look and feel! You can go old-school and play in 2D mode, too. It’s actually the SNES version of Super Tecmo Bowl, redone for the present day and with some extras thrown in here and there. Apparently you’ll be able to edit teams and rosters, so with a little work you could get everything all squared away with the real-life names. The big addition here, too, will be online multiplayer. That means you can use the time between now and when the game’s released to track down all the kids that used to live in your neighborhood growing up. I’ll be buying this, price be damned. I’m guessing we might be looking at around $10 but I’d go up to, and including, $15. I don’t know how I’d feel about $20. Probably not great, but that’s not to say I still wouldn’t buy it. No hard and fast launch date yet other than Spring 2010. [via Uncrate / LA Times ]
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Thursday, March 11th, 2010
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Harmonix has officially announced that Green Day: Rock Band will hit retail on June 8th of this year. Interestingly enough, Green Day frontman Billy Joe Armstrong confirmed that the band was working on the game in a radio interview back on June 8th of last year . Mind? Blown. The game will be priced at $60 on PS3 and Xbox 360, $50 on Wii, and there will also be a $70 special edition game for PS3/Xbox 360 that “Includes special packaging, export and six Green Day DLC tracks ($22 total value),” according to the press release . You’ll have 47 tracks to play with, all of which will be exportable to Rock Band, Rock Band 2, and Rock Band 3 when it’s released. The game also features “the three-part vocal harmony technology Harmonix introduced with the award-winning The Beatles: Rock Band .” Coming Soon: Green Day: Rock Band [RockBand.com]
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Thursday, March 11th, 2010
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I think Gagan is at GDC but he’s clearly not getting the good meetings. Firaxis is showing off Civ V and Kotaku has a nice run down, including a few new features. For starters, your opponents have definite AI based on their strengths and weakness. Ranged weapons can fire from further away – one space for archers – and cities can fight back. Cities also have “health bars,” which is a big change. Usually you’d just keep pounding the city until all of its protectors died. I totally want to play this new game. This looks more like a simulation than the boardgame that the old game was and it seems like you’ll be able to actually feel like you’re playing with others even while playing alone. Take a look at this: The developers said great civilizations can now agree to commence a research agreement, instead of just establishing trade or declaring war. The game will now allow easy access to a catalogue of user-uploaded mods. And, as a tease, the developers said there will be surprises as to how non-military ways of winning the game, the standard cultural and technological victories, for example, will be designed. Drool.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Thursday, March 11th, 2010
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The big Sony press conference is underway, and as expected, their motion controller is the star of the show. We can’t be there personally this time, but here comes the news anyway (I’m watching a few liveblogs; the pictures are from Kotaku’s ). The motion controller will be called the Move, not the Gem or Arc as suspected, and you can use two of them (or one and a nunchuk-like non-ball-topped controller) simultaneously to, say, box or use a sword and shield. Latency is “under one frame,” so probably around 30ms, which isn’t bad. They’re showing off how it works with a few launch games. 3rd person fighters, more casual stuff, and soon we’ll probably be seeing some FPS style games as well like Red Steel 2 . Lots of third party support, which we knew already, but hey, good to hear. There isn’t much else to say until you can see it in action or try it. Hopefully they’ll get demo units out to places like Sony Style and GameStop soon.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010
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Who would have thought that all that practice blowing on NES games would pay off? Now all I have to do is learn how to play the harmonica really well, and I can finally quit this blogging business and begin the exciting and lucrative life of the hobo! There are three harmonicas and three harmonicas only, people. Choose from Super Mario Bros 3 , a gold Legend of Zelda , or Dick Tracy . Amazingly, SMB3 has the highest bid right now. I would think all those glamorous harmonica players would want to rock the gold. The actual game PCB is included with the sale, though I’m not sure it’s a good idea to try to make it work without the cartridge. I’m just superstitious like that. [via GoNintendo ]
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010
Funny thing, isn’t it? That you can watch some little blocks moving on an 8
Posted by 010081
Tech
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010
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Just so you know, I’m not making light of warfare — it’s just that virtual training like this, while valuable, does remind one simultaneously of Modern Warfare and Ender’s Game . Of course, as this article notes , the current generation of potential soldiers has grown up in a digital age and expects a little Xbox with their ammo box. Training has, since the introduction of America’s Army in 2002 (remember, everyone thought it was going to suck, and it really didn’t at all), incorporated more and more virtual or simulated training, though admittedly the technology used is decidedly last-generation still. But when you can save a million rounds of ammo by having your recruits shooting pixelated guys in a 360-degree combat room like this one, the benefits are clear. I wish we didn’t have to send 19-year-olds into a war zone, but every advantage we can give them is helpful. And for the record, if I had to have someone watching my back while bullets whiz past, I wouldn’t mind if it was one of my old Counter-Strike clanmates.
Posted by 010081
Tech
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
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My oh my, what have we here? The “NEO SNES/SFC MYTH FLASH CART” is basically a cartridge that you pop into your Super Nintendo (you do still have your Super Nintendo, don’t you?) that’s got 256MB of onboard memory upon which you can load up ROMs. So take a tally of your legally-owned SNES cartridges, download them all in ROM form, and put all the originals in an airtight container for safekeeping. You’ll then be able to play those games as nature intended—with an actual SNES controller on an actual TV, just like the good old days. It’d be nice if the wizards behind this project would have thrown in support for original NES games but, hey, I don’t want any trouble. So that’s it. Go ahead and order it without looking at the price tag. You want to know the price, don’t you? It’s $169. That’s not a typo, either. NEO SNES/SFC Myth Flash cart + 256M [IC2005 Smart Shop via Wired ]
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Sunday, March 7th, 2010
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I haven’t even looked at these yet . I saw them on Reddit and immediately came here to put them up. So that’s why this post is so short. All these are in this month’s issue of Game Informer . Go to your local newsstand!