The Full Circle: 360 News Report 01.21.10

Posted by Joe Roche on 01.21.2010

It's week two of your favorite hosts return to The Full Circle and this week we're going to talk about NPD numbers, a demo of Crackdown 2 is coming, but a demo for Alan Wake is not and what does that mean for both games? We've also got news on Ska Studio's new game, and Ubisoft's decision to not focus on officially licensed games in the future.

Welcome back ladies and gentlemen to the big show. I wanted to take a moment to say thanks to everyone for the comments last week it was nice to feel like at least one person was glad to see me (Wyatt). I was at the helm of this particular column for over a year and we're quickly approaching my second year anniversary with 411mania.com. The Full Circle is the column that brought me into the fold here and it holds a very special place in my heart so it's always nice to be back writing this column and hearing from those of you who became regulars during my tenure.

For all the fluffy niceness though I would still like to point out that we're still looking for a permanent host for this column. If you're a gamer who loves Microsoft and the Xbox 360 then please apply today because I want to hand this column off to someone who will have the same passion for it that I did – and I'd like to do it in the not to distant future.

Enough idle chit chat we've got the big news of the week to discuss and as always I'd like to invite you one and all to come with me as we go around – The Full Circle.

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Even Activision Thinks Spider-Man Games Sucked
In an interview with Game Informer Activision CEO Bobby Kotick the man in charge of Activision isn't very fond of the companies Spider-Man games. "Our Spider-Man games have sucked for the last five years. They are bad games. They were poorly rated because they were bad games."

I'm not sure if it's refreshing to hear Kotick being honest, or disappointing that the man in charge of the company admits that his company is putting out shit. I mean it's it Bobby Kotick's responsibility to make sure that the games hitting store shelves with the Activision label don't suck? If that's not his job then to steal a phrase from Office Space "what is it exactly that you do here?" The problem with the Spider-Man franchise is that anything you could do to make a true to the source material Spider-Man game has been done bigger and better by other games. I think that the Web of Shadows games focused on web slinging more then some other Spider-Man titles but they still weren't very well received. I don't think the franchise material lends itself to a Batman: Arkham Asylum type reboot so Activision might be in trouble with a Spider-Man game, though it should be far easier to make a solid Spider Man game then a good Superman game which inherently seems impossible as – well you know, he's effin' Superman.



Crackdown 2 Demo Prior to Release
James Cope the producer behind the upcoming Crackdown 2 told IGN UK that gamers should "defeinitely expect a demo to hit Xbox Live before the game is out."

As you will (hopefully) read further down in this article I never dabbled in Pacific City the first time around and only recently got my hands on a copy of the original Crackdown so I'm not sure how I feel about the game just yet. However, I applaud any and every developer who releases a demo of a game prior to it hitting the store shelves for a couple of reasons. The most obvious reason to love a pre-release demo is that it lets you the consumer and gaming fan try your hand at the game before purchase. This works well for games like Bayonetta which didn't hit high on my radar until I played the demo, but also works against a game like Dark Void which I hated so much in the demo that I knew the game would get panned in reviews and lost all desire to pick up for full price. The other reason I love a pre-release demo is that when I see a post-release demo I immediately think that the game tanked in sales, and was not worth picking up at full price. That might be an irrational conclusion to draw from a developer releasing a demo after the game launches to retail but it's how I feel – so if Crackdown drops a demo before the game comes out then I have confidence that it's not a junk game and it may be worth checking out (though I'll reserve judgment for now). Oh and for those Crackdown fans already – Cope confirms that there will be helicopters in Crackdown 2, I hear that's a big complaint from the original game.



Activision Fudges Numbers - Does Great
According to Activision in 2009 DJ Hero was the #1 selling new intellectual property in the United States "by revenue."

This is the type of press release that I receive all the time. I'm not kidding if you want to take over this job you will incessantly be hounded by developers, publishers, and publicists proclaiming that their game is the greatest selling game of all time. I can't wait to hear how Dark Void is the best selling new IP to include a jet pack and Nicola Tesla next week (I wish I wasn't joking). Activision is right that "by revenue" DJ Hero cleaned up in 2009, of course when you take into account that the game cost $120 for the standard version and $200 for the Renegade edition of the game then you realize how full of crap they are. Actually the best selling new IP in 2009 was EA Sports Active (1.2 million units sold) followed by Dragon Age: Origins (1.14 million units sold), and then by Borderlands (1.11 million units sold). DJ Hero pulled a respectable 789,000 units sold in the US which is nothing to sneeze at but not exactly the best selling IP in the U.S. Also many have brought up that as far as original IP goes Wii Play and Wii Fit sold more units then all of the above listed games so they would have actually been the best selling original IP in 2009. All of that being said – kudos to Activision for milking more money out of the music genre which I would have assumed to be dead by now, and also it's nice to see some big numbers out of Dragon Age: Origins (my favorite game of 2009), and Borderlands which should at least show that quality original IP's will sell.



Remember That Demo Conversation – Alan Wake Edition
Remedy's Mike Reini discussed the upcoming (for the past three years) highly anticipated Alan Wake in an online community Q&A session and revealed that the company has no intention of releasing a demo of Alan Wake prior to the game's release.

Ok I feel like we're getting distracted by demo talk this week but I thought of something else that's important. There is a third game type – the type of game that is so huge, such a monumental blockbuster that a pre-release demo isn't necessary because people are going to buy the game regardless of what some internet savvy commentator thinks about the first fifteen minutes. Of course that trope doesn't really work with "Alan Wake" because the game is a brand new IP that has been wrought with problems since it was announced back in 1987 for the original Famicon system (may be an exaggeration). Halo 3 and Modern Warfare 2 don't need a demo – but a brand new IP that has been nothing but trouble, delays and broken promises should really come with a pre-release demo. I sincerely hope that Alan Wake turns out great because the premise behind the game is interesting and unique and I have high hopes for the game – but Remedy is doing everything to set off huge warning flares in my brain so I'm a bit apprehensive.



Are We Wrong About New IP's?
Video game analyst Jesse Divnich reported that between 2006 and 2009 there has been a 106% increase in the number of new IP games released (61 in 2006 up to 126 in 2009).

You have to admit – you're surprised by that statistic right? I know I was. It seems as if we're always talking about developers and publishers needing to expand into more new IP's but as it turns out they have been developing new IP's – we just haven't been buying them. Of course while the number of new IP's has skyrocketed in recent years Divnich also found that not a single one of the new IP's achieved an aggregate review score of higher then 90. So is the problem that companies are just producing lousy new IP's or is the problem that we as game reviewers and game fans just not fans of new intellectual property? I am assuming that Divnich did his investigation before the start of 2010 because we've already got at least one new IP that scored above a 90 (Bayonetta) and a second new IP that is absolutely worth your time and money (Darksiders). Hopefully game companies realize that new intellectual property isn't a losing proposition but realize that GOOD new IP is what is needed to freshen up the marketplace.


- Is this a gratuitous shot of Kristen Kreux for no reason? You're damn right it is!

Speaking of Bad New IP
Ubisoft has decided that they will dedicate far less of their companies resources on officially licensed games spurred by the poor performance of Avatar: The Game. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot commented that "it doesn't mean we will stop but we're going to spend less in licenses in the future."

This isn't surprising and is a good move for Ubisoft – over the past couple of years Ubisoft has become one of (if not) the best games developer in the world and they shouldn't be wasting resources, talent and time on games that simply don't produce the appropriate return in either reviews or money. Ubisoft has too much good stuff coming out of their studios to also produce crap or semi-finished officially licensed games. The strange part of this story is that Avatar: The Game actually sold incredibly well moving about 2.5 million units sold across all of the platforms but when you take into account that the movie Avatar will go down as the biggest movie of all time – and the fact that the game was sold as an innovative next leap in video games you can see why Ubisoft may have been a bit disappointed with the games performance.

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Week In Gaming

I hit one of my gaming walls this week which doesn't mean that I don't play games it just means that I get anxious and start looking for new games to play even though I'm still overloaded with backlog that I've yet to finish. However, I was able to overcome the distraction and push forward with some games that need (or needed) to be finished before Mass Effect 2 shows up on Tuesday because I am sure that once that arrives my productivity on the backlog will be zero.

My major gaming this week was playing Darksiders which I had vowed to not start until I finished Batman: Arkham Asylum which is still not finished. I had touched the surface of Darksiders last week prior to writing this column but I am now at the end of the game (and by the time you're reading this I hope to be done) and I must say that it's an absolute gem. As I got deeper into the game I began to fear that it was going to get repetitive. Actually that's my fear every time I start an "action" game. I'm not sure if it's my attention span or lack there-of but running around a semi-open world killing hordes of demons and/or angels and breaking open cars to release souls was something that I thought would get tiresome. However a lot of credit is due the team at Vigil Games for doing enough fresh and engaging stuff as the game wore on to keep it feeling new and not getting bogged down in the repetition that I had feared would plague the latter stages of the game.

The strange thing about Darksiders is that it's paced brilliantly. What I mean by that is that each time I started to get bored or caught in a rut where things felt a bit repetitive an event would occur that would inspire me to continue forward. I am writing this section on Tuesday night around midnight, and I had just reached the final section of the game when I started to feel like nothing could happen to make me care to move forward – but as I was thinking about switching games for a change of pace a story development occurred that tied a lot of things together and made me want to continue playing the game. It's seems like such a no brainer – to space the peaks of a game out in equal parts so that players will not get tired of what they're doing but you'd be surprised how many games miss the boat on that prospect. I'm still a bit worried about Darksiders and how it'll end – and if I'm back here next week I will be sure to let you know if it delivered. Though the game will have no DLC, and does not have an online component I think that every gamer should at least throw down the money for a rental on Darksiders because I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Along with Darksiders I spent a great deal of time with NCAA Basketball 10 though I won't spend any more time discussing it because by now my official review should be posted on the 411Games page so if you want to hear me talk about that particular game just shoot over there and check it out. I did want to take a moment though to say that I may have come off a bit negative towards the game and I hope that nobody at EA is setting up a hit on me right now. I actually did love the game – and I thought it did a great job of re-creating the college basketball experience. So regardless of how negative my review my have seemed I think NCAA Basketball 10 is a solid game that any college basketball fan will enjoy playing.

This week I got a copy of the original Crackdown for no other reason then I enjoy playing games that I missed a handful of years ago and I hoped to play through the original before the sequel comes out later this year. I have no thoughts on the game as of yet because I've managed to keep it out of reach for the last few days as I finish Darksiders but I wonder if anyone of you have played Crackdown and can tell me whether or not it's worth it to invest the time into the game or should I just skip it and hope that the sequel does enough to explain the story thus far?

Final note of the week after last week I received some friend requests on Xbox Live (gamertag: jdroche) from some of you who were interested in playing Left 4 Dead 2 at some point. I am still very interested in playing and I'd love to get some co-op together so I'm throwing it out there to all of you in the TFC Nation to hit me up on Xbox Live, or through the site here and we'll put together a time for us to meet up and play some Left 4 Dead 2.

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Punching Out

In the immortal words of George Carlin…

"He was just here a minute ago."