Four Player Co-op 02.09.10: Fallout: New Vegas, Sonic 4, The Sims, More

Posted by Stephen Randle on 02.09.2010

Does the trailer for New Vegas excite you? How about the announcement of a new Sonic game? Should Microsoft be shutting down Live support for the original X-Box? The 411 Staff debates these topics and more inside the latest edition of 4PC!




Jake Chambers has joined the game.
Armando Rodriguez has joined the game.
Stephen Randle has joined the game.
Chris Lansdell has joined the game.

QUESTION ONE: Fallout: New Vegas has been officially announced with a kickass trailer and a release date of later this year. Are you a Fallout fan?

Jake Chambers

Recently I would say that kickass trailers for franchise titles haven't always equaled games of similar quality. I'm thinking of the trailers for Resident Evil 5, Halo ODST, and specifically Left 4 Dead 2, an amazing trailer that convinced me to get the sequel for a game where I hadn't played the original, and although the game is good, I don't think it lived up to the intensity of that trailer. So while I am cautious about the persuasiveness of cut-scene-heavy cinematic trailers, this one didn't do much for me other than remind that I should play my girlfriend's Wall-E Wii game some more next time I'm at her place. Although, I will say that Fallout: New Vegas being a single player game does interest me as someone who prefers solo campaigns to the online experience.

Armando Rodriguez

Hell yes I am a Fallout fan! Although I started the series backwards, with part 3 first, then 2 and now I am playing the first one. But the series is amazing and I can't wait until it comes out. I need to know! Is the New California Republic back? Why was Las Vegas spared? My guess is that the Chinese wanted the sexy strippers safe! As long as it has a Fatman and I can nuke Vegas to shreds, I am going to be very happy with the game.

Stephen Randle

I am not. I tried to be, back in the old days of the original PC game, but I just couldn't get into the gaming system, especially the combat. Sorry, I guess I prefer my roleplaying medieval-fantasy instead of post-apocalyptic. Wait, I'm not sorry at all.

Chris Lansdell

You know what, I've never played it. Any of them. Until very recently I didn't pay much attention to the gaming world, and I judt bought updated versions of sports and wwe franchises. Fallout, BioShock, Mass Effect, FEAR, Halo, Gears of War...they all got lumped together in my mind as "not my thing, just another shooter I won't like." Once I started writing for the Games zone I expanded my horizons a little and realised how far off-base I was. I haven't caught up fully yet, and honestly Fallout is pretty low on my list. I don't generally enjoy post-apocalyptic worlds, and I have yet to read anything about the franchise that interests me.

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QUESTION TWO: Project Needlemouse has been revealed to be an upcoming multi-platform release of Sonic 4, which will return to its 2D roots and include only one playable character: Sonic. Will this be the one that ends the downward spiral of crappy Sonic games?

Jake Chambers

Interesting that you use the word ‘spiral' since the video for the game shows the traditional Sonic spiral and how it is surprisingly back to being in 2-D, so therefore I think this will appeal to a lot of the older fans purely for nostalgic purposes. Even if it sells as many copies as New Super Mario Bros. Wii (doubtful), this new Sonic will still be a 2-D game in a 3-D world and the next generation of gamers who don't fondly remember playing their Sega Genesis won't give a shit about Sonic in the future. I think that Sega's inability to properly adapt their franchise character into 3-D is just as embarrassing as their removal from the consoles wars. I don't have much faith in Sega at this point, and frankly they should just sell the Sonic property to Nintendo completely and let them come up with the game that will end the crappy spiral.

Armando Rodriguez

I hope so. I am pumped about this game and the only thing that worries me is the episodic nature. How long are the episodes? How much are they worth? I don't want to end up paying $10 for 1-2 hours of gameplay. Still, seeing Sonic back in 2D made me nostalgic and excited enough to give this a try. My faith in Sega has been resurrected, for the short term at least.

Stephen Randle

God, one would hope so. I mean, how much farther down can that franchise spiral? At this point, you've got Nintendo showing you up with your own creation in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Hopefully this will be a sign of Sega listening to what fans want, but one has to wonder why they'd release it as a DLC-type game and not in stores. I know, I shouldn't stigmatize downloadable games, but a new Sonic game, regardless of quality, would mean bank, so why not go all out and make it a big release?

Chris Lansdell

Well I'm not doing too well here. I never played Sonic 1 through 3, but I didn't think Unleashed was crappy. Maybe that's because I had no prior experience of the series with which to compare it. That said, I think Sonic 4 is going to be huge. It has all the heritage of the first 3 games behind it, and if the play it up as a return to roots people will believe that. Sega knows how to make a good game. Let's hope that they do right by this gaming icon and give us a game worthy of the 2D Sonic name.

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QUESTION THREE: The Sims turned ten last week. Are you one of the tens of millions of people who turned it into the highest-selling video game series in history?

Jake Chambers

I'm afraid I am. I did have a rarely played copy of The Sims 2 for my PS2. I do remember making a version of my WWE create-a-wrestler ‘Gentleman Robot' only to have him languish in what seemed to me to be very menial tasks compared to Tombstone Piledrivers. Overall, the experience went nowhere for me. I think it might have been the one game I was kind of embarrassed to own, as in, I would consciously take it out of the console when I was finished with it, so that if one of my friends came over they wouldn't know that I had actually been playing it. Hmmm, kind of what it must be like to have to throw a jacket over the Wii if you have guests coming over that own a real console.

Armando Rodriguez

Well I did purchase the first and second ones, but I never purchased any expansions. I also had Bustin' Out on the PS2. The thing about The Sims is that it is what I call a "two week game". I get extremely addicted to it for two weeks or so in which I only play Sims and nothing else....then it simply vanishes from my system. A few months/years down the line, I start playing it again and the same happens. The good thing about The Sims is that chicks dig the game and it is one of the few I could share with my girlfriends over the years.

Stephen Randle

I could not get into the Sims when it was originally released. It was soooo dull to a first-year university student who was already deathly addicted to Diablo II. However, my fiancée owns Sims 2, every single expansion and/or stuff pack that came out for it, and Sims 3 and both expansion packs. I did actually pay for Spore, though, so between the two of us, I think Will Wright owes us something.

Chris Lansdell

Well I don't play it, but given the small fortune I've spent on expansions for it, and Sims 2, and now Sims 3...yeah, I've contributed al lright. And then some. Our own Armando Rodriguez ranked Sims as the most influential game of 2000, and who could argue with that assessment? It's enormous.

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QUESTION FOUR: Microsoft is cutting off Live support for the original X-Box in April, which means any original X-Box games, including Halo 2, will no longer have online capabilities. However, this will allow upgrades to Live that were previously hindered by continued support of the older system. Reactions?

Jake Chambers

I find it hard to believe that all-powerful Microsoft, for some reason, needs to discontinue, what must be a hardly used, online internet gaming connection in order to offer upgrades to XBOX 360 users, which mainly seems to consist of allowing more than the currently capped 100 people on a friend list. Is it really that impossible to squeeze in enough memory to have both things exist? I'll admit I gave up my original XBOX long ago, but Halo 2 was an awesome game to play online and if people still want to play it then they should have the option. I think Microsoft is being lame here and just trying to make an excuse for getting out of maintaining a niche service.

Armando Rodriguez

I really don't know how to react. I mean, I hate to see online games for the older system become useless and I think this is one of the problems of having everything connected to Microsoft. PC games, no matter how old, can still be played online because they are not tied to specific servers or companies (in most cases) and as long as there are players willing to play out there, they are playable. But when a company essentially owns the only means to play it (just like Microsoft with Live, EA with their sports games and such) they are the ones who decide when to pull the plug. Unless somebody finds a way to crack the system or create an alternate way, those games are gone for good. At the same time I understand why they do it and that it is needed in order to move forward. As a business major I understand and to some degree support the move. But that doesn't mean I have to like it.

Stephen Randle

I grew up in a world where Blizzard provides free internet hosting for every single game they've ever made (okay, not WoW, but my point stands), right up to this day, so I'm not sure how the world-devouring Microsoft corporation can't afford to support a few dozen games of Halo 2. It's got to cost less than replacing all those RROD's. I mean, if cutting off original X-Box support is the only thing holding Live back from raising us all to a new plane of reality, then go for it. Somehow, I don't see that being the case. Didn't anyone (even Sony) learn from the PS2? Gamers want to play their old games!

Chris Lansdell

It's about time. The Xbox is OLD. I own one but I could not tell you where it is right now. It's definitely not hooked up to a TV let alone the internet. Progress is inevitable and progress means change, and some things will be dropped by the wayside. How long after the SNES came out did you see new NES games? What about PSX and PS2? Online access is not something we've had to deal with before, so shutting it off for a console is brand new and therefore bound to cause upset. There is only a relative handful of players still using the system and its games, and the continued support for it was holding back development for the majority. That should never happen.

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BONUS QUESTION: Sony has once again said no Final Fantasy VII remake is coming. If they were to remake any one older generation FF, which one would you want it to be?

Jake Chambers

I know it isn't going to help my video gaming credibility in my first GameZone appearance to admit that I hate the Final Fantasy games, and most RPGs in general. The only one I remember actually sitting down to play was the aforementioned Final Fantasy VII for my original Playstation, and I was bored. Call me sexist, but I think the whole series is for girls. So I don't think I'd care, or even notice, if they ever made or remade another Final Fantasy game again.

Armando Rodriguez

I think I am probably the only one, but I would say FF V. It was never released in the USA as far as I know and I played it only on an emulator with a translator patch. The job system from that game is what inspired the Tactics series and I would love to see something like that brought back. If not V, then probably IX because it reminds me so much of the classic 16-bit series.

Stephen Randle

And in a real big shock, it's Final Fantasy VI. If you need justification, you clearly haven't ever played it, so go do that before you do anything else.

Chris Lansdell

FFVII, and that's my final answer. It's freaking legendary at this point, and an updated version would fly off the shelves.

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