B3yond the Report 01.05.10: MAG Beta Details, Fallout: New Vegas Rumors and the Most Anticipated PSP Games for 2010

Posted by Jon Seddon on 01.05.2010

Possible details on Fallout: New Vegas emerge, MAG open beta live, Capcom games delayed, the return of Matt Hazard (again), and games to brighten up your PSP in 2010!



Another hard week for those seeking news, so it's a little bit of a shorter report again. Don't worry though because I've got nearly 10 PSP games you'll want to check out later this year.

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MAG open beta live

With a release date of January 26, Zipper Interactive have started the last phase of their MAG beta program, offering everyone the chance to take part. Everyone that is who can face the very slow download of over 2GB of data, which is what's required before you even fire your first gun. Be warned, Sony appear to be serving the beta files via a 56K modem in Siberia, so if you start your download, you may just get all the files by the January 10, when the program finishes.



For those of you struggling to find the files then try this:

1. Log on to the PlayStation Store, Select "View All By Title -> M Titles -> MAG" and download the MAG Beta file like you would any other freely-available PSN video or demo (298 MB)
2. Launch the MAG Beta program from your XMB to download a special patch that will restart MAG once the update has been received (another 37 MB)
3. After the reboot, the Beta will reconnect and download the actual game data so that you can play (1.8 GB – 2.3 GB depending on your region)

If you haven't been following this game, MAG is a military shooter that lets up to 256 people play together in the large online matches. It's not quite as chaotic as it sounds with each side of up to 128 players divided up into smaller squads Each of which are charged with achieving objectives that will further the ambitions of their faction. To give the game a sense of direction, players that do well in the shooting element will be promoted and offered the chance to command squads of their own with a top down view.



Zipper Interactive are hoping that by rewarding players for completing the objectives, they will follow the orders of the commanders. Given the unadulterated chaos of most squad based games when played by the gaming public, it will be interesting to see whether communities big enough to support those massive games will keep playing.

For the purposes of the beta, you can take part in a 64 player sabotage or 256 domination matches and I'll see you online.

Capcom Games Delayed

If you were expecting to see the likes of Super Street Fighter IV in the first quarter of 2010, then Capcom are going to disappoint you. After Dark Void, which is still due to release next week, you will have to wait till after April before the next Capcom game hits retail. Titles affected include the aforementioned Super Street Fighter IV, Dead Rising 2, Lost Planet 2 and Monster Hunter Tri. Capcom stated it wanted to move them out of the busiest Q1 in memory to give them a better chance at retail. Remember, Capcom started the trend to move games into the spring, which it did with a great deal of success with multi million sales from Resident Evil 5 and Street Fighter IV this year. Does this mean that more games will follow suit and eventually push Capcom into the pioneering Q4 territory?



The western release dates for the Resident Evil 5 update and Mega Man 10 aren't known at this point, but given that they are downloadable titles, they will probably be unaffected by the decision.

In other Capcom news, they have stated a wish to develop all new IP in house from now on citing the poor critical and commercial reaction to Bionic Commando, which was one of the failed Grin studios last games. Given the fact that Dark Void, which is being developed by western studio Airtight Games, is still getting released in January, does this ring alarm bells for game, which only a month ago was in the news for poaching Portal developer Kim Swift?

The return of Matt Hazard (again)

For all of you that cheered when Matt Hazard made a surprise return to video games last year, you are in for a treat this week with another game featuring the action hero. Okay, Matt Hazard wasn't a real video game hero and wasn't even a very good game, but the idea of a classic character perhaps modelled on Duke Nukem returning in a modern 3rd person shooter was a pretty good one.



Anyway, it seems the idea was good enough to be the basis of a new game with Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond coming to PSN this Thursday for the PS3. This time round the game is a 2.5D platformer/ shooter and so there's a chance that simplifying things will let the game's good features shine through. Those good features included daft weapons such as water pistols, the lampooning of classic gaming conventions and some reasonably good level design. It failed due to a lack of polish, some horrible difficulty spikes and it wasn't quite as funny as the writers thought it was.



You can find out whether it works better by the removal of half a dimension for just $14.99. Hopefully they will also release a demo because I won't be stung by Hazard for a second time.

Possible details of Fallout: New Vegas emerge

Be aware that what I'm about to share with you is rumor and Bethesda have already given the no comment treatment to it. However, if the following is true then there's lots of new features to look forward to in this Obsidian developed sequel to my favorite game of 2008.



According to a well placed source the the beans will be spilt in the next issue of Game Informer and this is what we might expect.

- You will have multiple "origin" stories giving you several different paths through the start of the game, ultimately giving you specific perks. One such origin will let you take the part of a Chinese agent who should have died when the bombs dropped, but instead has become a ghoul. Another origin is a completely blank slate giving you the chance to create your own unique character.

- The Vegas desert will be a much bigger play area than the Capital Wastelands and so you'll get to use vehicles to get around in. Vehicles won't be available until several hours into the game and will be customizable and a draw for others, including those in their own vehicles.

- Like Oblivion there will be a combat arena giving you the chance to both bet and take part in combat

It's about time that we heard more about one of the most anticipated games of this year (yes, this year) and none of this sounds game breaking or ludicrous, although whether Obsidian really can create a game world bigger than the original and fill it with interesting things to do is a minor cause for concern.

Source

Games to brighten up your PSP in 2010

I was originally going to list 10 games, but after extensive pouring over my PSP release list I couldn't find a 10th game that was worth a place. Do let me know if I've missed off that vital game.

Valkyria Chronicles 2. A very good and very unappreciated PS3 strategy game gets another chance to shine on the PSP. It's doubtful though whether it will get any more support this time round, but with the cost of development much reduced, you have to give Sega credit for trying. Amazingly, almost everything has made the transition to PSP and they've even managed to cram in some new features. There was nothing wrong with the first game other than a lack of sales, so don't let that happen again.

BlazBlue. For some, this was the best fighter of 2009 and it's coming to PSP in 2010 and looks almost as impressive on the small screen. the graphics and game modes will make their way over to the PSP, but the multi-player will be limited to just 4 players via ad hoc support, which is a shame. You do get a new single player mode though, which gives you a map to explore and sounds pretty similar to the Soulcalibur single player modes. Out in February.



Dante's Inferno. This is a game that could go either way, given the history of games that are released across both the current gen of consoles and the PSP. It will probably end up being a very poor relation of the main game, but I would like to imagine the same amount of care that was lavished on Chains of Olympus being shown to this game. A bit of an outsider then, but it's being developed by A2M who gave us Wet, which was functionally competent at least.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep. The first Kingdom Hearts game to be released on PSP arrives in Japan next week, but still doesn't have a firm release date for North America. Birth By Sleep is a prequel to the original PS2 game set 10 years before the events of that episode and will follow the adventures of Aqua, Terra and Ventus. Expect new abilities and characters, which pretty much makes it a must have for any Kingdom Hearts fan.

Video Games | Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep | Japanese Winter Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Holy Invasion of Privacy Badman 2A sequel to the cult classic dungeon creation game with possibly the longest name ever. The sequel is subtitled Time to Tighten Up Security! which doesn't really get across the fact that the game has several new features including Mutation. This allows you to change your monsters in response to changes to the environment, giving you the best possible chance to hammer those heroes. A demo should be available on the PSN store now.

The 3rd Birthday. Not much is known about this game, which is the third in the Parasite Eve series, but the fact that the series is getting another game makes it worth mentioning. The original game was released in 1998 in North America and was a game that combined elements of RPG and survival horror. Anyone that remembers it will be eagerly awaiting this new game.

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. The next game in the Metal Gear Solid series is definitely worth talking about, but by now you should have got the chance to play the demo. MGS isn't everyone's cup of tea and the PSP's controls provide a few challenges, but no one can refute that the game looks amazing on the tiny screen. As ever with MGS, the convoluted plot will be as important as the gameplay, but I hope that, given the co-op elements to the game, the cut scenes won't be as lengthy as the last game. Sitting there with your buddies watching 90 minute cut scenes on your handheld is just not what it was designed for.



Resident EvilOther than a teaser reveal at last year's E3, nothing has been heard about this game since. If Capcom are smart they will try and recapture the spirit of the original PlayStation games, where the controls whilst janky, didn't ruin the tension, which is what the games relied upon.

SOCOM U.S Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 3 The first two games were amongst my favorite action games on the platform, providing bit sized tactical shooting. Technically, they look very dated now but these look to have been brought up to modern standards and could give this the sheen required from current PSP titles. The other impressive feature of the series is the infrastructure mode online support, which championed the use of the PSP headset. This time round we'll get cooperative multi player, which is my favorite way to play almost any game.

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There was no PlayStation Store update this week I'm afraid, but at least you got MAG to play.

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What I've Been Playing

You would think that with all the time off I would have got to play lots games, but unfortunately I was away for nearly the whole holiday period and most of my gaming time was taken up by singing Christmas songs on Lips or trying to get some 4-player trophies on The Beatles: Rock Band and Lego: Rock Band. I did get given Rogue Galaxy for Christmas which is a bit of a PS2 RPG gem, so I'll get some time with that soon.

Uncharted. I did get a little bit of time to play Uncharted (the original), which seems to zip along at a pretty fast pace. What I hadn't played last time I wrote about the game were the vehicle sections, which certainly aren't a high point of the game. Whilst the jeep sections are okay, the jet ski sections are an exercise in frustration, even if ultimately they are over before you really get frustrated. At somewhere over the half way mark, I am not as enamored by the game as I was initially wishing for more sections of exploratory platforming and less shooting. In fact a lot less shooting would make this, for me, a much more enjoyable experience.

Blue Toad Murder Mystery Files. We sat down and played this properly over the holiday and the things that I initially noticed about the game are even more evident. The characters in the game are all given really annoying voices, which, given the amount of dialogue on offer is a real negative for the experience. On top of that the only game elements on offer are the simple puzzles with the occasional choice of which puzzle to tackle. The puzzles are timed and so are usually very straightforward to solve meaning you really are done with the episode in a couple of hours. I won't be buying any more episodes, which probably tells you all you need to know.

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Next week will see a return to the standard format with quick looks at Bayonetta and Darksiders