Gaming's 4R's 2.04.10: Nintendo's E3 Plans, The Zelda Fiasco And God Of War Slurpees!

Posted by Chris Lansdell on 02.04.2010

From wondering when Zelda Wii will come out and Mass Effect 2 selling over 2 million copies to NBA Jam coming back and Patrick Stewart talking gaming, 411’s Chris Lansdell breaks it all down in the 4R’s of Gaming!

Hey yo. Welcome to the Games Zone's version of The 4Rs, the popular column that graces our other zones on a weekly basis. For those not familiar with the concept, we break down the week into Right, wRong and (in this zone) Random and Reviews. Some weeks, when the news warrants, we will ad a 5th R: The Rant. It's all good fun and it beats trying to write about one thing every week. So let's dive in shall we!

BANNER!

Oh, right. Never mind.

The Right

Nintendo Reveals E3 Plans Early - I've never been to E3…yet. One complaint I heard from my subordinates who have gone is that it's impossible to see everything, and planning in advance is required. Nintendo telling us nice and early that Super Mario Galaxy 2, Zelda Wii and some Vitality Sensor software will be on display means we can add them to the "stuff we need to see" list. Sure people will be complaining at the lack of Wii HD on this list, or the inclusion of the sure-fire shovelware target in the Vitality Sensor, but the fact is that Nintendo is fulfilling a very important role in gaming right now. More on that in the Rant. With Zelda maybe (and maybe not) coming in 2010 and Galaxy 2 not far behind, we've got two sure-fire massive hits for hardcore gamers to look forward to at this year's Nintendo booth…and we've got 4 full months left for more stuff to be announced.


Mass Effect 2 Sells, Well, Masses - January and February are nasty months. People are recovering from overspending during the holidays, the weather sucks and tax season is right around the corner for North America. That's why you generally see major games released in March or April to take advantage of Easter, the second-busiest gift-giving season of the year. Mass Effect 2 bucked that trend, and it did so successfully, with over 2 million copies sold in 3 days.

When several games, like Dark Void, Mass Effect 2 and Bioshock 2, elected to postpone a planned holiday release - to avoid facing off against heavy hitters like Modern Warfare 2, Assassin's Creed 2 and New Super Mario Bros. Wii – my head dropped and slowly shook. Game delays are bad, and trying to avoid the competition screams "My product is inferior!" from the get-go. In addition, delaying it too long will mean you have to start the hype machine over again, but not delaying it far enough will have you selling to a cash-strapped public. ME2 seems to have avoided all the potential traps (the same cannot be said for Dark Void…) and has met with resounding success. A great start to the year for the 360.

Microsoft Selling Less Hardware, More Games - How on earth is this Right, you ask? Several reasons. For one, Microsoft does not make its money off 360 hardware sales. The money is in customer retention, because the longer they are around the more games, Xbox Live memberships and the like they buy. The revelation that Xbox owners have, on average, just under 9 games is a powerful one. I cannot remember the last system I had for which I owned 9 games, but I have around 15 for the 360…and I trade in a lot. People buying more games suggests that they are happy with the hardware, and that can never be a bad thing. It also means more games will be made for the system, which in turn sends more money to Renton.

Besides, take another look at the sales figures: hardware sales went DOWN to 5.2 million. In other words, their sales dropped and they are STILL selling more than Sony, despite being an older and (let's be honest) technologically inferior machine. Sales of the bigger-ticket units are also doing better than the entry-level Arcade units, which again points to a more loyal user base.


Hideo Kojima apologises for the delay of game – Normally a game being delayed would make it into the Rong section, but the circumstances surrounding Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walkers made for a different story. Game God Hideo Kojima, the man responsible for the MGS franchise, made a point of apologising for the game's delay. In fact he went a step further and suggested that delaying a game's release was the worst possible crime for a developer, and continued in that vein by equating the practice with a broken promise. He also said he felt like he had to earn back the trust of retailers, distributors and gamers as a result.

Wow. I'd take my hat off to Kojima-sama, but I'm not wearing one. In recent times it's almost become routine that games see delays. It happens so often that I doubt anyone in the industry batted an eyelid when the delay was announced, let alone said "Well, I don't trust him any more…" or felt like a jilted lover. Kojima is responsible for some of the greatest games to ever grace a console, and if his track record hasn't earned him a little slack then I don't know what would. Yet still he felt so bad about the delay that he had to apologise. Are you listening, iD Software? I'm still waiiiiitiiiing…

I wish more game developers had this attitude. Kojima is right: when you announce a release date, you are promising your fans that they will be able to partake of the fruits of your labours as of that date. To then turn around and push that date back for technical reasons is something I don't quite get. Why would you announce a release date when the game is not ready? Obviously I understand it's a marketing ploy, and it drives buzz for the game as well as encouraging pre-orders and allowing gamers to budget for it. Would it be so hard to wait for the announcement though? If you're not even part of the way through betas, do you really want people to think that your game will be out in 2 months? You'd better pray that no major bug turns up! Problems do occur, and that's the nature of technology. Gamers will accept that if you explain it to them and apologise. Don't just delay it with a nebulous "It will make the game better" and expect us to smile at you. Got that, Koei?

Now, delaying a game for money reasons is entirely different. It's all bad enough that you are asking gamers to fork over $60 for a new game, but when that game has been delayed by 3 months just because you don't want to compete with other games, you're doing yourself no favours. Aside from essentially admitting that your game is inferior from the get-go, you're basically telling your customers that they can bloody well wait for the game because you want more money. Yay capitalism!

NBA Jam is coming back! - Yes I know it's old news, but it's FREAKING NBA JAM! Anyone who grew up in the mid-90s and didn't play this game either hates sports or is a communist and probably enjoys Target: Terror. From the cheesy announcer yelling "He's heating up!" to ridiculous dunks to playing as Bill Clinton, NBA Jam was the ultimate parody game and one that can only be better if proper care is taken with the remake. Personally I hope that they find a way to insert Miis or even better, people's faces into the game. I also hope Perez Hilton is a character, because I want to dunk on his face. Something tells me he's used to getting facials.

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The Reviews

Darksiders - 360 and PS3 - You may be able to tell from the above that we like this game. A lot. In fact the other staffers who have played it are raving over it too. The plethora of awesome action games that has hit the market in the past few months has to be encouraging for Dante's Inferno which hits this month. Both that and Darksiders are on my Must Buy list. Pretty impressive start for developer Vigil Games, who are now hard at work on the Warhammer 40K MMORPG, which is sure to be massive with the geek crowd. Like Randle.

Mass Effect 2 - Adam Larck all but drools over the space RPG, and with good reason. As we said above the game shifted over 2 million copies in its first week, an impressive number and one that should see it top the January NPDs.

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The wRong

The Dragon Age DLC Saga - First it was coming out. Then it was delayed, and a full expansion was announced. Then they released it. Then they pulled it later that day due to bugs. Then they stealth released it. For a company the size of EA, and a developer as high-quality as BioWare, this is almost unforgivable. It reeks of disorganisation and is unprofessional to say the least. The bug that they found in the DLC was one that you would expect to get caught in beta testing, and the fact that they want on to sneak out the product suggests to me that they weren't even sure then that they had fixed everything.

I'm playing through Dragon Age right now, and I'm enjoying it. Found it a little hard to get into but once I got out of the origin story the gameplay really picked up and it felt more like an RPG. But the situation with Return to Ostagar pissed me off, because we're not dealing with some mom-and-pop operation here. Get your ducks in a row guys!


Zelda Wii: When? - Nobody seems to know, or if they know they ain't telling. In a loose-lipped month for him, Satoru Iwata said Zelda would ship before the end of 2010. Fans everywhere rejoiced. Then Nintendo of America COO Reggie Fils-Aime, who looks a bit like John DeLarge, said the game would not be released until it was perfect. The implication was that it wasn't there yet, and that it would be a while. With two Nintendo bigwigs seeming to contradict each other, what should we believe?

Well, how about the story from official Nintendo show Ninty News in the UK, which lists Zelda as a "must have" release for 2010?

Oh Nintendo. Just tell us: is it, or isn't it? Because it can only help you to let us know. We're going to buy it even if it's a year late, but arguing amongst yourselves is just silly.

No lying down in Battlefield Bad Company 2 - This SUCKS. I love sniping, especially with no killcam (cue comments about how "gay" that is), and being prone is the best way to do that. Lead writer and designer David Goldfarb said via Twitter that it won't be in the game, no matter what. Apparently it's a popular request, because he also told his followers they could stop asking. I don't really have much more to add, I just wanted to point out that no prone means a sad Lansdell. It also means I will suck at BFBC2.

Are we heading for a PSPGo Relaunch? - Just stop, Sony. You tried to release a portable system with no physical media. Possibly not the worst idea ever, but one the industry is not yet ready to accept. Then you make it MORE expensive than the model that not only has physical media, but also allows you to play music, watch movies and so on. Oh, and you can only download games over WiFi, so heaven help you if you're not in a hotspot when you get bored of the game you're playing. Sure it looks nice, but sales have been sluggish at best and it's not hard to see why. You failed.

Sony have barely supported the system, but all that would change with the suggested relaunch, which is rumoured to coincide with the release of a new Crash Bandicoot game. Sony would back it up with a huge advertising blitz, push the improved form factor, and possibly even drop the price. Look Sony, I'm sorry about your cock-up but there's only one thing that would make me buy a PSPGo, even at the lower price point: add a cellphone.

Nokia's NGage was a spectacular failure because they did it wrong. They had no history in the gaming market and therefore gamers didn't trust it. Plus it was ugly. With today's multitasking technology and Sony having a cellphone arm, the possibilities are greater. Plus then you could download games via 3G (or even HSDPA+) and feel superior to all those iPhone-toting posers.

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The Random

Do you know what that is, folks? That's got to be the weirdest game marketing tie-in I've ever seen. Sony is teaming up with 7/11 to bring out God of War 3 SLURPEES. Because if there's one thing that makes me think of sword-on-chain-swingin', God-killin' action fun, it's an ice cold fruit-flavoured frozen beverage. Coming this month, flavours will feature "ferocious blackberries and frosty limes", which almost made me spit out my coffee. I guess they couldn't figure out how to market "Kratos Krunch."

OK so it's not all ridiculous. There will be codes on the cups for downloadable GoW3 content, which is always a plus. I'm just waiting for the iPad condoms...

Picard plays no games - This is just too randomly awesome to ignore. Sir Patrick Stewart talks Twitter, iPhone, laptops and gaming here:



That does it this week. I'm saving up a nice big rant for next week, so join me then for four, possibly 5 more Rs! Put the snacks in the bag, and I'm ghost like Swayze!