411 Games Fact or Fiction 9.01.09: PS3 Slim Versus The 360, Arkham Asylum, Aion, WoW Cataclysm

Posted by Drew Robbins on 09.01.2009

411 writers Todd Vote and Sean Garmer pitch in their two cents this week on the subject of Sony making ground on the competition, the possible resurgence of comic book games, and the likelihood that Aion will last about a month before its user base goes back to World of Warcraft.



Welcome to the weekly battle of wits here at 411 Games, Fact or Fiction! Before we head into the action, I would like to eat a little crow here. Earlier this year, and this might not have been published on the site, but I projected that Batman: Arkham Asylum would be the disappointment of the year. You could say that I was wrong, dead wrong, or my personal favorite: moronic. All of these statements would be right, and I have fully braced for a deserved beating in the comments section for being so stupid.

Todd Vote - Former commenter and current lord and master of the 411 Games Top 5. This week, Top 5 ranks their personal favorite moments in gaming history. For the record, when it comes to Jesus rounds, you can't get better than my eight straight headshots in TF2. (I have a screen cap to back that shit up, too!)



Sean Garmer - Using the magical power of a Phoenix Down, Sean has resurrected the almighty 411 Games Roundtable. I plan on being a monthly fixture here – which should be more than enough reason for any of you to check it out! As a side-note, Sean seems to be just as much of a Beatles nut as I am, so much props to him.

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1.) The PS3 will make up decent ground on the 360 in the next few months.

Todd Vote: FACT - I went back and forth on this one. I don't expect the price drop for the PS3 to have a big impact until Christmas, so I guess that fits the time frame you are asking about. There will be the few hundred, or maybe a thousand people who have been waiting for the price drop (such as myself), who will purchase one as soon as they can. For the younger crowd, I'm betting the parental units will make them wait and receive the PS3 as a Christmas present. Of course with the bad economy, parents may just tell the little shit machines that the Wii, or 360 they already have should be sufficient enough. The 360 also received a price drop, and when comparing apples to oranges, the 360 still has a larger library of games to choose from. I think the PS3 will make up some decent ground, but I still expect Sony to come in 3rd when this generation's console war is all said and done. It'll just be a hell of a lot closer than it is right now. If the Xbox being a broken machine doesn't move Sony to second place, I don't expect the price drop to do it either. But that in no way means this was a bad move for Sony. They will sell more consoles, and that is what it's about.

Sean Garmer: FACT - I think only because there are more people like me that have been waiting for a PS3 to drop in price to buy one and already own a 360 too. There was already a 300 dollar 360 out. I don't think getting 100 to 60 more GB of memory on your hard drive is going to convince people that haven't bought one yet, to buy one.

Score: 1 for 1

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2.) With the recent release of Arkham Asylum, you have high hopes for future comic book games.

Todd Vote: FACT - But it has nothing to do with the awesome that is Batman. I love me some comic book movies. And by extension I've always had high hopes for comic book video games. Batman is just the latest in a line of comic book games that I had hoped the best for. For me, comic book licensed games will continually be met with high hopes, but realistic low expectations. Hope for the best, expect the worst.

Sean Garmer: FICTION - I really only think that so much was put into Arkham Asylum because of the films being such a huge draw. And maybe a little because Eidos needs to build up their rep again. There was probably a lot of pressure to make sure the game was taken seriously.

And this is also not a direct film game either; this is more off the cartoons and comics. So that should be taken into account. Spiderman was probably the only movie series that have consistently produced good games and I really don't think that's going to change. Unless people allow the studio the time and give them the money and motivation to make sure the game is quality.

Score: 1 for 2

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3.) As usual, Aion will only distract MMO players from WoW for a month or two.

Todd Vote: FACT - The screenshots for this game look amazing in my opinion. They seem to come off as a darker version of WoW. But I don't expect it to make a lasting dent in the WoW Universe. WoW has become the elite for MMO's and I dare say the only thing that will be able to take a chunk of WoW's fanbase will be another game from Blizzard.

Sean Garmer: FACT - Not that I'm saying it's going to suck. It's just that there are so many WoW players out there, I don't think it's gonna sell. I don't play PC games, much less MMOs. But it's probably hard to focus on two games of that capacity equally, and it may be a case of picking the one you spent the most time with, and not just spending it on a new one.

Score: 2 for 3



Switch!

4.) Speaking of MMOs, the latest WoW expansion looks down-right incredible.

Sean Garmer: FACT - I don't play MMO's as I've stated many times before, but I know plenty of people that do, and that are excited for this. With Cataclysm it seems that the world around Azeroth is going through some troubles with volcanoes and floods as they tear the world apart. From the pics I saw of it, that looked rather cool. Instead of adding new classes the staff at Blizzard decided to add two new races in the Worgen (A Teen Wolf type creature that can change between human and wolf) and a Goblin. Some may not be too happy that you can only go up five more levels to a level cap of 85, hey but at least you can use your flying mounts in Azeroth if you make it to level 85. There are other things Blizzard is going to have in this expansion that is sure to hit stores when it hits stores in 2010.

Todd Vote: FACT - As Sean stated above, the new expansion seems to have plenty to keep the WoW faithful happy. I don't think I could add anything more than what Sean said. I'm not capable of playing this game(garbage PC), but I've always had an interest in trying an MMO. I know they are practically RPGs, but I'm always willing to try something.

Score: 3 for 4

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5.) You actually care about Bayonetta.

Sean Garmer: FACT - This is similar to DMC and I've always enjoyed those games. I think too many people are just ready to say this is a DMC knock-off with a female character and don't want to give this a chance. Yes there is button mashing aspect to this but there's also a cool effect called witch time that slows down the action to let you unleash fury attacks. The story seems kinda cool too. So I'll be looking forward to hearing more about this game in the future.

Todd Vote: FICTION - I enjoy DMC, and I love this type of game, but nothing I've seen from this one screams at me that I need to play it. I haven't really seen anything to set it apart from the DMC series. The game looks pretty for sure, and Bayonetta could more than likely kick my ass, but I'm just not at all too hyped for this game. Maybe I'll give it a rental and that will change my mind.

Score: 3 for 5

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6.) Halo: Reach really is Bungie's last effort with the Halo franchise.

Sean Garmer: FACT - I think so because Bungie is probably tired of the whole HALO thing by now. They want to be able to make their own games and let people experience different things from them besides HALO. Also, with two side stories I think fans are going to just want a HALO 4 and that would be the perfect opportunity to hand over the reigns completely to the new HALO team. Even if Reach sells a zillion copies I think Bungie will be done with it after this.

Todd Vote: FICTION - I think we will see Bungie come back to Halo. There is far to much money in the franchise for them not to. They may not be involved in any Master Chief related Halo titles, because they have told their story there, but if Bungie is given more opportunity to venture away from the main Halo-verse, I think they could find the passion to create another title. How about a Halo beat-em up where you play as an ODST captured on a Covenant ship with no weapons, and you have to fight your way off. I see 3rd Person action all over that.

Score: 3 for 6

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Until next time…

The two finish with a 3 for 6 score this week, much thanks to both competitors for helping out this week! If you need to contact me regarding FoF or anything really, leave a comment below or add me on PSN, the ID is Kikind.