The Ultra Combo News Report 01.18.10: Splinter Cell: Conviction, Gran Turismo 5, R.U.S.E. Delayed!
Posted by Armando Rodriguez on 01.18.2010
Plus, BlazBlue coming to PSP, P.B. Winterbottom gets release date, DJ Hero 2 news and more!
One more time it is Monday morning and that means one more Ultra Combo News Report! As I write this I am recovering from a second battle with the dreaded flu. If you remember back in December I had a serious flu scare and at one point it was believed it was H1N1. Well, it happened again! If you need proof that love makes you sick, here is what happened: My girlfriend landed a job at a hospital and they required her to take the new H1N1 vaccine. Well, she did, but I did not! She had a little "two-day flu" as a side effect from the vaccine, while I ended up catching the real thing from her! Since she had taken a shot, it did not bother her, but I ended up spending the better part of the week laying in bed covered in Vicks Vapor Rub. Thankfully, it was not H1N1 what got me but just a strong version of the regular flu. I don't know if it has a specific name, but we call it the "bonebreaker" in PR because it makes you feel tired and you get muscle pains. I have been under medication for the past 8 days and I feel a lot better, but still tired. Or maybe I am just lazy. Anyway I felt so bad I could not even play video games for most of the week because they gave me headaches. The same happened if I watched TV. Imagine yourself so sick that TV and Video Games give you headaches, you are too tired to play sports or have sex and there is absolutely nothing to do in the house. Plus, your friends won't come over to play poker because they are afraid they will catch the flu from you. It made for one long, shitty, lonely, boring week! I felt like I was back in the 1920's, the days without TV or games. Man, now I understand why my grandparents had 14 kids! There was nothing else to do! Oh and don't get me started on "flu" food. Soups, orange juice, oatmeal, you know, non-manly food! I demand steaks, bacon and burgers! But no: I got a bowl of chicken soup twice a day, a bowl of oatmeal or cornmeal for breakfast and orange juice the rest of the day. Make it stop!
Now that my little rant is over, time for your featured presentation!
Splinter Cell Conviction, R.U.S.E. Delayed
Just to make my week shittier, we got my favorite type of news to report: Delays! Yes, more and more game delays keep filtering through the newswire as somebody finally realized how stupidly awesome the first quarter of 2010 was going to be. Ubisoft has confirmed that Splinter Cell: Conviction and the real-time strategy game R.U.S.E. have been delayed until the April 2010 fiscal period, which runs from April 2010 to March 2011. Ubisoft gave no explanation for the delays.
[Credit: Gamespot.com]
The Beatdown: I got an explanation for you. They finally realized what I have been preaching since the mass delays started back in October. The first quarter of 2010 features way too many awesome games and some of those would fail to sell. Considering that the last Splinter Cell entry had a mixed reaction and did not sell well, it was in Ubisoft's best interest to move the follow up to a less competitive period. Listen, I have no doubt that it is going to be an awesome game. Sure, it looks like it borrows a bit from Metal Gear Solid (the main character looks a lot like Snake) and the story of The Bourne Conspiracy, but to hell with that, it looks awesome! Still, you need to make sure the game comes out when people are going to buy it, not when their attentions (and wallets) are split into so many games. As for R.U.S.E., I need them to show me something to get me interested. Besides, it looks like another console Real-Time Strategy game and we know how RTS is spelled in consoles: F.A.I.L. or like the cool kids say right now: E.P.I.C. F.A.I.L.
Gran Turismo 5 Delayed in Japan
Yay, more delays! Gran Turismo 5 has been delayed in Japan and once more, there is no reason given for the delay. There is no official release date for GT 5 in Japan or anywhere else. However, fansite granturismo.com pegged the delay as three months, putting the Japan release well into the summer and possibly pushing the American and European release into the holiday 2010 period, or at least Fall 2010.
[Credit: Gamespot.com]
The Beatdown: No reason given, but if rumors are to be believed, the game is not up to par with Forza or what Sony had in mind for the franchise. The rumor right now is that the development team put so much effort into the 1,000 plus cars and all the new features that the core game was left unchanged and is not meeting expectations. I hope that is not the case and this is just a rumor (and you know how rumors can be taken out of context or be fabricated just to hurt a game or company) but it does feel strange to see the game getting pushed back without a statement as of why.
2009 Sales Slump: Blame Music Games!
It seems a general agreement was reached between various analysts: They all blame music games for the decline in sales last year. According to various analysts, including Wedbush's Michael Pachter and EEDR's Joey Divinich, music games and the lack of innovation are to blame for the poor sales.
Highly priced band kits in the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises, coupled with the lack of innovation in most sequels to commercially successful franchises led to the decline. According to Divinich the industry has to rely on innovation more than ever before because it has a large share of its market that is composed of casual players and non-traditional gamers. While a few new levels, weapons and maps can be enough for a core player (RPG's, First-Person Shooters, etc.) that strategy doesn't work with the casual or non-traditional gamer. He cites the poor sales of sequels to casual games like Boom Blox, Rayman Raving Rabbids and Cooking Mama as examples of his theory.
[Credit: Gamespot.com]
The Beatdown: I have to agree with the majority of what was said in that statement. On the Wii specifically (and to some degree on the DS and PC as well) we have too many "me too" casual games and compilations. It over saturated the market with shovelware and in the end it hurts sales. The casual gamer that accidentally bought one of the poorly developed party games will dismiss all party games as being poorly done and is unlikely to buy the good party games. The same goes with the music genre….it is too much of the same thing and asking us to pay hundreds of dollars for the band kit and game is insane. I think that they should have developed one single band kit that would be compatible with this generation of music games and then just make games for it. Another turnoff (and the thing that turned me from music game fan to hater) is the poor durability of the expensive band kits. My band kit is already screwed up and gamers are in no position to shell out $120-$150 for a new kit every time the poorly made kit breaks apart.
My solution to save the music game industry: Develop a highly durable, universal band kit. Just one! Then make games for it. Better yet, make just one core game and make a ton of DLC for it. That will keep players satisfied and interested in the product and will prevent some of your followers from turning against you when their kit breaks up and they need a new one. In my case, I'd rather trade in all the music games I have than spend $120 on a new kit. I am sure that people who have had a similar experience are in the same boat. We are also the same people who are not buying the new music games because our kits are messed up.
My solution to prevent Shovelware crap: Enforce quality standards. I am sure that companies have to submit their games for testing to the owner of the system (at least that's how it was done in the good old days) and then the system's manufacturer has to give them a license to produce that game for their system. By enforcing high quality standards, we prevent shovelware. By preventing shovelware, we prevent costumers from having a bad experience with a horrible game, an experience that might turn them off from the genre or worse still, from the system.
BlazBlue Coming to PSP
One of the best fighting games from last year is coming to the PSP as Aksys Games confirmed that they will release BlazBlue Portable on the PSP in March. Aksys is promising that every frame of animation from the original will make it to the portable version. In addition to this, the game's arcade, score attack, training, story and versus modes will also make the cut. New additions include "unlimited" versions of every character that can be acquired from the new shop, a Legion Mode that plays like a twist of the typical survival modes and the ability to play one on one match locally, with two other players serving as spectators.
[Credit: Gamespot.com]
The Beatdown: BlazBlue was a fantastic little fighting game and I am happy that players from other systems are getting the chance to experience it. How well it translates to the PSP is something that we need to wait and see, but the PSP has seen plenty of good fighting games in the last few years, so I am not worried about it.
Release Date Set for P.B. Winterbottom
The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom became a sleeper hit at E3 2008 and received numerous awards at the show. After such a long time in development, the game is finally coming to Xbox Live on February 17th for $10 or MSP 800.
The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom is a puzzling platformer with black-and-white silent-film sensibilities. As the scurrilous pie thief P.B. Winterbottom, players can "record" their actions in each level and then play them through again as the created clones run through their recorded steps. Players secure the delectable treats by interacting with the actions of their clones, helping them scamper to previously unreachable areas.
[Credit: Gamespot.com]
The Beatdown: I am really looking forward to this game. The premise is cool, the graphics look great and it has gained a lot of hype and attention in spite of being a simple indy game set to be released as a downloadable title. Could this be the next Braid or Trine? I certainly hope so and I believe we have to be thankful to these companies for keeping the spirit of the platformer alive. I have seen the screenshots and videos and I have to say Winterbottom looks like nothing I have ever seen. The unique premise and the graphical style make this a must play game.
Activision Confirms DJ Hero 2
Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has confirmed DJ Hero 2. Kotick confirmed that the sequel is in development during an interview with Game Informer that appears in the magazine's February issue. In spite of the poor sales of the original, Kotick said that "we are sticking with it and we are getting it right". Kotick also said that Activision has reevaluated its music game strategy: "It's going to be fewer games, better games".
[Credit: Gamespot.com]
The Beatdown: I am pleased with the change in strategy. The flood of Hero games took away from the feeling of "uniqueness" that every game carried. It went from "awesome, another Guitar Hero" to "crap, not another one!" I am also pleased with the fact that DJ Hero is getting a sequel because it felt fresh, different, from the other music games out there. My only fear is that by "getting it right" they mean releasing yet another turn-table controller and charging $120 for it.
The Quick Hits:
- Warner Bros. has reached an agreement to develop games based on Sesame Street. They are hoping to incorporate Project Natal and motion sensing technology in the games. Yay, new ways to tickle Elmo! (Sarcasm).
- A little unknown game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (never heard of it!) has now topped $1 billion dollars in sales.
- If you like to watch movies in non-HD quality, Netflix is coming to Wii later this year.
- Square Enix made it known that Final Fantasy XIII is finished and ready for the U.S. release. This means that the current release date is the final release date.
Until next week folks! I hope by then I am flu-less and more coherent. The only good thing about this is that I have spent over 10 days without shaving and I have grown a CM Punk-style beard that is pissing my girlfriend off. Good times, good times….
