The Good, The Bad and The Ugly News Report 06.15.09: Mirror's Edge 2, Halo 3 ODST, Guitar Hero Van Halen and More!

Posted by Armando Rodriguez on 06.15.2009

Two key members of Van Halen won't be in Guitar Hero, Halo 3 ODST priced at $60, Mirror's Edge 2 in development, Criterion gets Need for Speed and more!

Welcome to another edition of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly News Report! I have to ignore my usual introductions in favor of making one bold statement: InFamous is AWESOME! Seriously, I finally surrendered to the temptation and went out to get this game and after beating it as Evil Cole and playing about half the game as Good Cole I have to say it is one of the best games this year. I am working on a review, but I am waiting until I wrap up both storylines in order to be fair. I was even thinking about talking to Sam POW! (Because it needs the "!" at the end) and getting a crossover done with The Game POW and give tips on how to accomplish the trophies and stuff. I know that InFamous is very similar to Prototype, but Prototype has to be one heck of a game to be better than InFamous. Yes, it is that good!

Also I have been playing Restaurant Empire II (Review coming very soon!) and it is surprisingly good and a very good deal as well since you are basically getting two games in one, with the original RE also being included. I do have some frustrations with the graphics and the pace of gameplay, but if you like business simulations, this one is a winner. Now on to the news!

Biggest News of the Week: Mirror's Edge 2 In Development!

Electronic Arts made a number of gambles on new intellectual properties last year, all to varying degrees of success. One such risk that has yet to make a mark is Mirror's Edge, a parkour-inspired first-person action adventure developed by Swedish studio EA DICE. Upon its launch on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in November, the title generated positive review scores, but has barely sold over 250,000 units to date in the US. (It was also released on the PC early this year.)

Still, EA has not yet given up on the new franchise. In December, EA CEO John Riccitiello said that his company was evaluating the franchise's potential, and it appears Mirror's Edge survived the scrutiny. Speaking with UK site VideoGamer.com, EA Games Europe vice president Patrick Soderlund confirmed that a Mirror's Edge follow-up is in the works.

"You will see another Mirror's Edge for sure," Soderlund said. "It's just a matter of when that time is and what we do with it. We have a small team on it, and I'm excited about what we do." EA had not responded to GameSpot's request for comment on Soderlund's statement as of press time.

Prior to Mirror's Edge's tepid launch extending a shadow over the franchise's future, EA DICE senior producer Owen O'Brien said that the game's current storyline has been mapped out as a trilogy. "I think there's a lot of scope to take the story in different directions, or maybe tell someone else's story," he said. "But certainly for these first couple games, it's all about Faith. It's all about her experience in the world." The producer also noted a primary focus for a Mirror's Edge sequel would be a level editor.

The Mirror's Edge series also has friends in high places. Speaking with GameSpot as part of a 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo interview, EA Games president Frank Gibeau expressed faith in the series, noting that it "did quite well in Europe, but not as well in the US."
Credit: Gamespot.com

Faith will be running again soon!

GOOD: I acquired Mirror's Edge recently and in spite of the game being a bit short and repetitive, it is also different enough to warrant a second look. The art style is great and just doing something in first person that does not involve using a gun felt refreshing. I am really happy that they are putting out a sequel and hopefully improving on the concept of the first game. I encourage everyone who is tired of the same old, same old First-Person Shooters to go out and give this game a go. Seriously, we gamers complain about how every game is the same and how tired the FPS genre is, but when something different comes around we don't embrace it. That is what sends the wrong message to game developers and why we seem to be playing the same things over and over.

Halo 3: ODST Will Retail For Full Price!

Following a canceled E3 unveiling, Halo 3: ODST was formally announced at the 2008 Tokyo Game Show by Microsoft and Bungie Studios. At the time, the game had been billed as complementing the overall Halo 3 experience. Speaking to Game Informer magazine last fall, Bungie design lead Joe Bertone described the game as "a three-to-five-hour expansion pack," with cinematic director Joe Staten adding that "we do not view this as a $60 title."

Apparently, Bungie's former owner Microsoft views things differently. Amidst the hubbub of the Electronic Entertainment Expo last week, the software colossus/game giant updated the fact sheet and official Halo 3: ODST page on Xbox.com with the game's price--a full $59.99.

In a statement provided to GameSpot, Microsoft explained its pricing decision thusly: "At the time [of Bungie's comments], the overall scope of Halo 3: ODST was not yet finalized, and since then, the project has grown increasingly more ambitious. We believe this stand-alone experience is much more than just an expansion. Halo 3: ODST provides a new campaign from the point of view of an entirely new character. Combine that with three new multiplayer maps, the entirely new cooperative mode called Firefight [shown below], and the complete Halo 3 multiplayer collection on a stand-alone disc, we feel this is a good value and tremendous addition to the Halo franchise."

Halo fans with extra cash to burn can choose an even pricier version of the game. GameStop is exclusively offering a $99.99 Halo 3: ODST Collector's Pack, which comes with a UNSC-green special edition Halo wireless controller (pictured).

All editions of Halo 3: ODST, however, have two other incentives. Besides three exclusive multiplayer maps, the game disc will contain the levels from the Halo 3 Mythic Map Pack, released in April for MSP800 ($10). It will also contain an invitation to participate in the 2010 multiplayer beta of Halo: Reach, Bungie's mystery-shrouded next chapter in the Halo saga.
Credit: Gamespot.com

Pay $60 or else!

BAD: I have a feeling ODST is just a simple expansion pack and they are going to take advantage of Halo-fanboyism to make more money. Let's break it down shall we? If this is going to be a full-priced game, the single player experience HAS to be longer than 5 hours. 5 hours is too short a time, especially when you consider the extras in the disc. The Halo multiplayer component? Seriously, 99% of the people who are going to buy ODST already have Halo 3. So they already have this "component". The $10 maps? I bet at least 4 of every 5 Halo 3 players already spent money in the DLC maps. So basically they are charging $60 for a 5 hour campaign, a cooperative mode, 3 new maps and a beta for a new game. That is unfair. 3 Maps are worth $10 at best. If they add the single-player campaign and the new cooperative mode for an extra $25 or so, they could have reasonably priced this at $34.99 or something. Unless the campaign last a good 10-12 hours, this is a serious rip-off. *Hides behind a rock and waits for Halo fanboys to come at him with pitchforks and torches*

Hagar, Anthony Out Of Guitar Hero Van Halen

During last week's Electronic Entertainment Expo, Activision ran a brief trailer for Guitar Hero: Van Halen on the side of its massive booth. The trailer revealed that the game will feature 25 tracks from the hard rock supergroup, as well as three playable solos by its famed guitarist, Eddie Van Halen. The game will also feature 19 other musical acts, including (as previously announced) Queen, Weezer, Blink 182, The Offspring, and Queens of the Stone Age.

Besides divulging this information, the trailer showed the game with the band configuration featured on the quartet's 2008 tour: Eddie Van Halen on guitar, his brother Alex Van Halen on drums, his son Wolfgang Van Halen on bass, and original frontman David Lee Roth.

Over its 37-year existence, Van Halen has had three lead singers and two bassists, most notably Sammy Hagar on vocal from the mid-'80s to mid-'90s and Michael Anthony on bass from 1974 to 1996. Now, after declining to comment since the game's announcement in May, Activision has confirmed neither will appear in the game whatsoever.

"Only David Lee Roth and Wolfgang Van Halen will be in the game," a rep said when asked about members besides the Van Halen brothers.

The exclusions of Hagar and Anthony are apparently the latest snub in the internecine conflict between the two ex-band members and the House of Van Halen. The pair left the group in the 1990s to pursue collaborations, such as the Waboritas and (most recently) Chickenfoot, only briefly reuniting with the Van Halen brothers for a 2004 tour. This year, Eddie Van Halen and Anthony traded accusations by proxy, with the former telling Rolling Stone the latter quit the group, and the latter telling MusicRadar that he was kicked out.

Hagar, meanwhile, has been amassing a large fortune outside of music. In 2007, he sold a controlling stake in his Cabo Wabo tequila business to Gruppo Campari for $80 million.
Gamespot.com


UGLY: Ah, rockstars. They are always finding reasons to fight among themselves. This is a real sour note for the band, for the game and for the fans. How can you make a Van Halen game without two of their most influential musicians? This is not Gary Cochrane we are talking about here, this is Sammy Hagar and Mike Anthony! They are skipping over an entire era! Tell me, what has Wolfgang Van Halen done for the band besides being Eddie's kid? Can anyone on their right minds say that Wolfgang is a better musician than Anthony? When the game was originally announced I thought everyone would be involved and that they would alternate between Roth, Hagar, Anthony and Wolfgang where appropriate. This is just another sad chapter in the history of Van Halen.

Sam & Max Coming To XBLA

The level-headed dog and the "hyperkinetic rabbit-thingy" are jumping to a new console on Wednesday when the first season of their vigilante rabble-rousing will be packaged onto the Xbox Live Arcade with the revised title Sam & Max Save the World.

Telltale Games announced yesterday that the downloadable game would retrofit the original first season, which was originally released from late 2006 to mid 2007 for the PC. Sam & Max Save the World will feature achievements, high-definition and widescreen graphic support, and updates to the game controls. The six-episode package will cost 1,600 Microsoft points ($20).

The developer also stated that the second season would be compiled and re-named Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space, and would be placed onto the arcade "in the coming months".

In Sam & Max Save the World, the two vigilante private investigators attempt to uncover a hypnotism conspiracy. The anthropomorphic duo encounters puzzles and objects throughout the game as they unfold the mysteries surrounding the conspiracy.
Credit: Gamespot.com

Craziest couple you will ever see on XBLA

GOOD: I had the opportunity to play the entire season on the PC and this is one of the funniest series you will ever play. I suggest anyone who likes old-school point and click adventures and funny games in general gives this one a go. My only gripe is that the gameplay is a bit slow and repetitive and once you beat the entire season it is unlikely you will go back to it in a long time, but for as long as it lasts the game is a blast.

Free Realms Attracts 3 Million People

Further evidence arrived today that nothing attracts a crowd like "free." Sony Online Entertainment, the creators of Ever Quest and Star Wars Galaxies, announced today that 3 million unique users have registered for Free Realms in less than seven weeks after its launch.

SOE will thank its early-adopting user base by awarding gamers in that initial batch of 3 million with the "3M Pet Party Pack," which is filled with congratulatory goodies for pet trainers to accessorize their virtual cats and dogs. Normally, players have to buy accessories for their pets at the game's online store.

The game's user base could expand well beyond 3 million players if it ventures beyond the PC. In August 2008, SOE announced at the Leipzig Games Convention that the game would be coming out on the PlayStation 3 in Europe. While SOE has been quiet on the issue since then, company president John Smedley stressed two months later the company's plan to bring all of its future MMO games to consoles.

Unlike many massively multiplayer online role-playing games, combat in Free Realms is optional. The game also offers many social networking features, including an interactive chat where users can share pictures and upload in-game videos onto YouTube. The game offers 14 other jobs, including such jobs as ninja, postman, chef, card duelist, and wizard.
Credit: Gamespot.com

GOOD: I will always say something good about free stuff. Not only has this game attracted record crowds, but the possibility of having it for free on the PS3 as well is very attractive. I have yet to try it, but after reading this bit of news I am definitively going to try it this week at some point. I am not a big MMO fan, but as long as it is free, I can't complain. If anyone has tried it and wants to leave their impressions of it in the comments section, you are welcome to.

Criterion Working on New Need For Speed?

During the same investors conference presentation where he revealed Battlefield 3, Electronic Arts chief operating offering John Pleasants dropped another bombshell. Specifically, he blew the lid off one of EA's historically most successful franchises, Need for Speed, which was trifurcated into three subseries in January: Need for Speed: Shift (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PSP, and PC), Need for Speed: Nitro (Wii, DS), and the massively multiplayer online game Need for Speed: World Online (PC).


Initially, Pleasants discussed the three-way split, which will see independent shop Slightly Mad Studios develop Shift, EA Montreal work on Nitro, and EA Shanghai and the downsized EA Black Box craft Need for Speed World Online. "We've put a huge effort into reengineering the whole franchise," explained the executive. "Different teams very much reengineered how we're making this product; lots of good work went into that, and the product quality is totally going to show it."

Then, Pleasants let slip a major literal shift for the franchise. "We've got staggered teams now, so we're not in the 12-month cycle grind, which is really the biggest thing we had to break. We've taken the Burnout team and combined it into the Need for Speed franchise. Now we have that in our favor because Burnout is from probably one of the more online-centric and high-quality developers that we have, Criterion." (Emphasis added.)

Almost simultaneously to Pleasants' speech going up via webcast, gaming blog Kotaku posted highlights from an interview it did with EA CEO John Riccitiello during last week's Electronic Entertainment Expo. In it, the executive confirmed Criterion Games head Alex Ward is overseeing development of a new, unnamed Need for Speed game--and that the project has apparently taken precedence over the next Burnout title.

"I don't think you can fold Burnout into Need for Speed because a lot of people like Burnout," Riccitiello said. "[But] we don't have a plan right now for a separate major launch on Burnout because the team doing it is working on a revolutionary take on Need for Speed." (Emphasis added.)

Other than to repeatedly say that Need for Speed and Burnout would remain distinct series, Riccitiello didn't elaborate much. Pleasants, though, expounded on EA's determination to make the former series a top seller once again. "Look, Need for Speed is one of the great franchises," he said. "I believe it's a top-10 seller in game-industry history. It's a backbone brand for EA, and it's one that has sold to 10 million units, now selling about 5 million units as the quality has eroded. So what's new in Need for Speed is a deep commitment to getting that title and that franchise back to its glory days."

Pleasants also touched on the Project Natal-optimized version of Criterion's last game, Burnout Paradise, which was shown off both at Microsoft's E3 Press Conference and on last night's episode of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

Pleasants said that EA had known about the project "for some time…we didn't learn about it at E3. We've known about it for months. I think you saw that Burnout was one of the products that was tested there, so we've had access to that software long enough to take a project like Burnout and make it Natal-ized."

"If I were in Microsoft's shoes, I would think of Natal like a new console," he continued. "If it is deployed correctly and we as third parties can leverage it correctly, then there's a lot of innovation that will feel innovative like another round of a console [would]. For us, that's positive because, yes, we have to do new dev for another controller, but we don't have to do new dev for a new platform. It's a different level of investment. [But] that doesn't take any of the onus off the innovation. We still have to figure out the hit-making sauce for Natal versus a non-Natal 360. They're probably going to be different."
Credit:Gamespot.com

GOOD: Let me state that I have played every single NFS title. I loved the series until NFS 3: Hot Pursuit. I found Porsche Unleashed to be good, not great. The Underground series was really good and peaked with Most Wanted, which is probably my favorite NFS of all time. Hot Pursuit 2 was really good as well. But Carbon was merely decent, ProStreet sucked donkey balls and Undercover was too flawed, better than ProStreet, but not even as good as Carbon. After Undercover I basically placed the NFS franchise next to Sonic: Something I once loved, but has been so bad lately that I would never entertain the idea of spending my money on it ever again. Well, the fact that Criterion is making a new NFS game is enough for me to go back on that statement. I love the Burnout franchise and I think Burnout Paradise has to be in the Top 5 Greatest Racing Games of All-Time. What can Criterion do with NFS to make it relevant again? I frankly don't know. But I know that I have faith in them to turn the franchise around and I will be awaiting impatiently for more news on this game. As for the Project Natal news, I really don't care. I need both, Microsoft and Sony, to show me that their motion-sensing crap is better than Nintendo's motion-sensing crap. I need them to show me that this is going to be a real revolution worth buying and not just a "Hey, we can do Wii too" crap. Until they do that, I will ignore their constant statements of "This is a revolution!"

Prototype Having Install Issues on PS3

By its very nature, a prototype is likely to have some bugs that need to be worked out. Such is the case with Activision's newly released Prototype on the PlayStation 3, as the publisher has acknowledged on its customer service site "a small number of PS3 Prototype owners have been having issues with installing the game."

The issue is that the game incorrectly tells some players that they have insufficient hard drive space to install the game. A downloadable patch for the game will be released "shortly," but in the meantime, Activision has suggested a work-around.

Players might be able to eliminate the error message simply by changing the amount of free space on their hard drives by 700MB. It doesn't matter if that change in space is achieved by adding new games and demos or deleting existing content from the system. Once the changes have been made, reinserting the disc should allow the game to install properly.

Developed by Radical Entertainment, Prototype casts players as a genetically altered shape-shifter tearing a path of destruction through New York City. Along the way, gamers try to discover who they are and what's behind their mutations, all while fighting off an assortment of military and mutant adversaries. Prototype is also available for the PC and Xbox 360.
Credit:Gamespot.com


BAD: This is just another case of developers rushing games out and not doing proper testing. This is not a small amount of people we are talking about (as they say a "small" amount) but a significant one. Go to any gaming message board and you are likely going to find quite a few people with the problem. I have said it before and I will say it again, do proper testing on your games, make sure they are 100% ready and then release them. It seems that the fact that games can be worked on and patched after release has made companies careless and indifferent towards the perfection of the initial product.

Battlefield 3 Confirmed!

Though it helped put military multiplayer first-person shooters on the map, Electronic Arts' Battlefield franchise has seen itself outsold by the Call of Duty series in recent years. Granted, 2005's Battlefield 2 was a hit--selling more than 1 million units in the US, according to the NPD Group--as was its console spin-off, Battlefield 2: Modern Combat, which sold 1.2 million units domestically on the Xbox 360, Xbox, and PlayStation 2. However, 2007's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was the overall best-selling game of 2007 and has sold more than 8 million units domestically (according to NPD) and more than 15 million units worldwide (according to Activision).

Now, with the release of archrival Activision's Modern Warfare 2--developed by former EA employees at Infinity Ward--looming, EA is planning a comeback in the military shooter sector. Speaking at the William Blair & Company investor conference this week, EA COO John Pleasants revealed that, in addition to this year's sequel to the critically lauded, multiplatinum Battlefield: Bad Company, EA is planning a new installment in its core Battlefield franchise.

"We have a lot of IP in that [shooter] area, and we have not not noticed that Call of Duty has a significant share of that business," Pleasants told analysts during a question-and-answer session. "We are putting a real concentrated effort behind those titles. Battlefield happens to be one of them. ... I've had the luxury of looking at Battlefield 3 over at DICE over in Sweden. I was highly impressed by the way the people were working on that product. That's not for this fiscal year [ending March 31, 2010], but that is a product that is looking very good."

After saying that work on the download-only Battlefield 1943 (due in September) has been "going well," he said the Battlefield franchise is "strengthening and moving to a service model, and it has multiple titles within it which we can lever off of, so I am bullish on the Battlefield franchise, but it's not our only title which we are hoping to gain share with in the shooter category." He offered the forthcoming third-person shooter Army of Two: The 40th Day as another title that would court shooter fans.
Credit:Gamespot.com


:GOOD After spending 100 hours or so on Battlefield 2, I am very excited for the sequel. As good as COD has been, it has failed to deliver the chaotic, vehicle-fueled madness of Battlefield. I also hope we get quite a few new Battlefields in the coming years. What about sequels (or games based on) Battlefield Vietnam and 2142? I still believe 2142 is fantastic and criminally underrated.

And now, the return of the Uselees News! Actually, this is not that useless, but it is so moronic that it demanded inclusion in this report.

Useless News of the Week: EA Hates Metacritic Wii Scores!

In the past, Electronic Arts has touted its Metacritic scores as a badge of honor. Just this week, in the same conference call in which he revealed Battlefield 3, EA COO John Pleasants bragged that the company released 14 games with a score of 80 or higher from the review aggregator, which is owned by GameSpot parent CBS. However, in an interview with Gamasutra, EA Sports president Peter Moore has said that his label's Wii games would abandon Metacritic as its benchmark, opting for user reviews instead.

Moore said that EA Sports' Wii game sales are largely unaffected by their Metacritic scores, citing titles that sell millions despite a rating of 70. "Now, yes, you still want to get the best possible review score you can get, but I think it's less critical to the success of a game on the Wii than it maybe is on Xbox 360 or PS3," the executive explained.

By contrast, EA CEO John Riccitiello continues to support Metacritic. The company plans to place 50 percent of its resources in developing Wii titles, alongside the goal of raising the Metacritic scores of all its game titles.

Moore, on the other hand, is more concerned with other benchmarks. "I absolutely guarantee you, the thing we're watching most closely now [with Wii titles] is things like Amazon--and I'll go look at women's magazines that have powerful Web sites, and then we look at what we call 'mommy bloggers,'" he says. "That's where those people go for their information. They are not going to Metacritic. They don't know Metacritic exists."

Metacritic is used by many industry analysts and executives to gauge and predict the success of games. In an interview with UK daily The Guardian last year, Metacritic games editor Marc Doyle said, "More and more businesses and financial analysts are referring to Metacritic numbers as an early indicator of a game's potential sales and, by extension, the publisher's stock price. Apparently, they're able to use quantifiable review data as a predictor of a game's success before the NPD sales data is officially released."
Credit:Gamespot.com

USELESS: Ok, let me get this straight: You hype the fact that 14 of your titles got great scores in Metacritic. But then you dismiss the Wii scores because you don't like them? You call those scores "not as relevant as it is for other systems"? Mr. Pleasants, let me state that you sir, are an IDIOT. Why? Because scores are important no matter the system! Scores indicate quality and the great majority of your Wii titles have been CRAP! Yes, the new Tiger Woods looks awesome and the EA Sports Active one is good as well, but take most of the older Live and Madden Wii games…they all suck. So if you are Pleasants, what do you do? You decide to ignore the Wii scores because they are not favorable to you. That is hypocrisy at its best. You know Mr. Pleasants, it is not such a bad thing to admit how bad those games where and say that you are working hard to ensure better quality. That would have been an accurate statement and one that would have garnered you applause from the community for your honesty and commitment to improve those games. Instead you come out looking like an idiot because you chose to ignore those scores that where not favorable to you.

: The Reader's Voice:

Last Week We Asked: In Your Own Opinion: Who Was E3's Biggest Winner?

Our winner this week is The Genocide who said:

We gamers were E3's biggest winners of course. But if you're talking about just the big three then I'd have to say Sony. They showed off more games that I'm anticipating like Uncharted 2 and GoW3 as opposed to Microsoft who is helping bring down video games and life as we know it with Milo.

And I've read Fall of Reach. It's a great read and I highly recommend it. Chief plays a huge role in the book as it is about the origins of the Spartan program and everything John went through to become Chief. It would seem weird if they started the game from the beginning since the Chief doesn't develop into the asskicker that he is until about halfway through the book. But if you're a huge Halo fan then the book is a must read.

And that would suck/not suck if Brutal Legend got delayed. Sure we'd have to wait but that's at least one less game flooding the market this holiday season and extra cash in my pocket.

I agree with you here. Sony had the killer exclusives, while most of Microsoft's stuff is games that will also be coming to PS3. Sony had God of War III, Uncharted 2 and The Last Guardian (not to mention FFXIV and The Agency) to brag about. But I believe this is the closest to a tie I have seen all three console-makers come. Nintendo showed some big games as well, Microsoft showed Project Natal (as much as I hate motion-sensing controls, this looked really cool, but once again, I need them to show me more before I am convinced) and a new Halo.

Jersey said: PS3. everything xbox 360 showed were mulitplatform games while ps3 came out with their exclusives of god of war 3 and the last guardian

John said:Microsoft. #1 They didn't have James Cameron talking for 40 days and nights. #2 They dropped the bomb with Hideo Kojima that MGS will be coming to the 360.

I disagree with you John. Before you label me a Sony fanboy, let me explain why. Your biggest argument is that Microsoft had the big announcement with MSG coming to 360. I disagree entirely. If this where a port of MSG4, a game that Kojima once said would NEVER come to 360, I would have agreed with you. But instead what they announced was a brand new game that is ALSO coming to PS3 and PC. It's nothing exclusive or groundbreaking and I doubt even Solid Snake will be in it. I was more excited (and surprised) at the announcement of Halo: Reach than anything else Microsoft showed.

This week's question: What old-school (8-bit or 16-bit) franchise would you like to see resurrected in modern consoles?

Once again the top answers will be a part of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly next week!

Goodbye

Once more I would like to remind you all to bookmark us. If you fail to bookmark us, we will unleash the plague of Mark Salmela and Shaqy on your house! Hide your momma, your sister and your jelly donuts! *I am on a diet Armando* Oh, yeah. Make that Sugar-Free Jelly Donuts! Now I better leave before Mark sues me for gimmick infringement. Until next week!