411 Games Fact or Fiction 10.25.11: NFL Blitz, Arkham City, DLC and More

Posted by Adam Larck on 10.25.2011

Are the new modes in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 enough to warrant buying it? Are we looking forward to NFL Blitz? Do HD re-releases need to come to an end so the industry can focus on new games? 411’s Mark Salmela and Stewart Lange debate these questions and more in this week’s 411 Fact or Fiction: Games!

Welcome back to another week of 411 Games Fact or Fiction. I'm Adam Larck, and I'm trying to hold off on buying Arkham City. In the meantime, I've been going back to try and clean up a few games that I never finished, such as Catherine.

This week, we have Stewart Lange and Mark Salmela going head-to-head. Let's see how these two do. Time for banner!





1.) NFL Blitz is coming back. You're hyped for it..

Mark Salmela - Fact: But barely. I love NFL Blitz and would love to see it come back, but I had problems with the NBA Jam reboot, and I fear EA is going to mess up the NFL Blitz reboot as well. I wasn't a fan of Madden Arcade, and I have a feeling this is just going to be another Madden Arcade with an NFL Blitz skin on top of it. I don't think the NFL wants the same hard hitting, trash talking style of play the old Blitz games had, and the reboot will suffer for it. I will give it a shot though.

Stewart Lange - Fiction: But not because I'm from Scotland and see Football as a game where you know, you use your feet, but only because the Blitz games I've played in the past have, on the most part, sucked. If I was going to play an NFL game, it'd be Madden, but I'm so out of touch with American Football I still have Madden '09 as my seldom playing of it wouldn't merit a purchase.

Score: 0 for 1 - I'm intrigued to see how it plays, as long as it's similar to early games and not the recent versions.



2.) Microsoft seems to be trying to tack on features using Kinect, such as Halo's Analyze Mode, instead of finding better uses for it.

Mark Salmela - Fact: I think Microsoft wants to get as much use of Kinect as possible. Things such as head trackers and this analyze mode sound neat, but they seem very gimmicky to me and if I didn't already have a Kinect these types of features certainly wouldn't convince me to buy a Kinect. I'll give Halo's Analyze Mode a shot, but that's because I already have Kinect and will buy Halo. This Analyze Mode didn't factor into my decision of whether or not I would get the game.

Stewart Lange - Fact: But I don't think that is a bad thing really. What better uses are there? Stupid Arcade games like Hole In The Wall? Frankly, I am looking forward to added features in the likes of Mass Effect 3 as I think that will be when my Kinect earns its purchase, since I used Kinect Sports for like, two weeks and Dance Central only comes out when there are people round. Any "good uses" for it have been discovered by the modders on the PC, so for me, I want them to have my Kinect enhance my games.

Score: 1 for 2 - Sure, they're tacked on, but how many people actually use them?



3.) The industry needs to stop doing HD re-releases and concentrate on making new games.

Mark Salmela - Fiction: I'm a fan of HD re-releases. What I'm not a fan of is lazy ports called HD re-releases. I'm not going to support companies like Ubisoft and Capcom who half-ass their HD re-releases, but I do support companies like Sony and Microsoft who put time and effort into their re-releases. I think we're at the point of the current console generation where launching a new IP is so hard that companies are waiting for the next generation of consoles to launch new IPs, so HD re-releases and sequels are probably going to be the norm for the next year or two.

Stewart Lange - Fact: The only real benefit, let's be honest, is the addition of trophies. I'm a retro addict, I play my Dreamcast and N64 more than my 360 or PS3 (at least until Arkham City came out, now NOTHING gets a look in.) and I like the charm of certain games old graphics. All the games we've had so far are PS2 games which in my opinion, are not old enough to merit a remaster. I've only played the God of War collection and frankly, didn't find the HD added anything to the experience. Metal Gear Solid interests me, as would something like Shenmue 1 & 2 or any of the big N64 titles like Mario 64 or Ocarina of Time, but for PS2 games, I'll just dig my old console out my cupboard.

Score: 1 for 3 - Except for games that just had a short print cycle, there really isn't a reason for these.

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4.) It surprises you that only half of HD console owners buy DLC.

Stewart Lange - Fiction: The surprise for me was why. Privacy? Crap. If anything, cost would be the biggest issue for me. I maybe didn't read the report correctly, but was this ALL Console owners, or just the online ones? Either way, if I don't buy DLC, the reasons are, in descending order: Too expensive- see: Call of Duty, finished playing the game- see: LA Noire, or the content is stupid and utterly worthless: see- Avatar clothing.

Mark Salmela - Fact: I'm surprised it's that high. I figured there's still a huge portion of the audience that doesn't even have their console connected to the internet to buy DLC. Factor that in with the percentage of people who have their consoles connected to the internet but don't buy things off their respective marketplace and if anything I'm surprised that it's at 51%. The real question is this a good thing or a bad thing? There's still a lot of DLC out there that I think should be included in the original disc, and that type of DLC I won't support.

Score: 1 for 4 - Personally, the only problem I ever have with DLC is the price sometimes.



5.) The problem with the Arkham City DLC issue shows that the new game codes need to be done away with.

Stewart Lange - Fiction: I don't like the whole Online Pass thing particularly, but bonus DLC codes for pre-order or day one purchase are a nice bonus for those of us who were waiting a while for a game. Take the ME2 Cerberus Network, or more recently Arkham City. I got Robin and Catwoman with my edition from Game UK and both codes worked great. The reports are that people who HAVEN'T got their codes or are experiencing issues are actually still getting the bonus sent to them via different means so it's just an unfortunate issue, rather than a reason to get rid of the concept of bonus codes altogether: but please note I don't agree with having to pay for on disc content or the privilege of playing online.

Mark Salmela - Fact: I don't like the idea of having these codes to unlock certain parts of the game, but I can see why companies do this. Then again anyone who buys Batman used at GameStop gets a free code for the DLC anyway, which almost defeats the point for me. The whole point of these codes are to discourage used sales, but when GameStop gets to give them away for free to people who buy the game used it sort of defeats the whole purpose in my mind. Anyways, I'm a proponent of once I buy a physical disc it's mine to do whatever I please with, so I've never been a fan of these codes. It doesn't matter if I want to sell the game or use it as a coaster, I own it and I can do whatever I want to it. But I still respect the right of publishers to have these codes.

Score: 1 for 5 - The online pass needs to be done away with, and having problems with codes just show another reason why it needs to be gotten rid of.



6.) Two new modes in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 will help warrant a new purchase.

Stewart Lange - Fiction: But only because it didn't warrant a purchase in the first place. If you're familiar with my writing here in the game zone, you'll remember that I SUCK at fighting games and struggle against you know, people with thumbs. I resent paying more than £5 for a fighting game quite honestly, so the only current gen fighter I own is Street Fighter 4. For diehard fans, I'm sure that they will buy the game for the new features regardless, but at this point, how much is too much? I have sympathy for the people who are paying two or three times for the same game (what up, Street Fighter) but hey, you keep spending, they'll keep making.

Mark Salmela - Fiction: Hell no. I'm legitimately upset at Capcom about several things lately, and this is one of them. Marvel vs. Capcom 3 came out in February 2011, and in summer of 2011 they announced Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, basically making the original game useless. If I had known they were going to release a new version 9 months later with tons of new features and 12 new characters I wouldn't have purchased MVC3 to begin with, so I feel cheated as a customer. Add in all of Capcom's other mistakes like constantly re-releasing the same titles over and over again (Street Fighter, Dead Rising), canceling new games people actually cared about (Blue Bomber says hi), and I'm not buying any product with the Capcom label on it anytime soon. Oh, and Capcom, outputting a Sega Dreamcast game in progressive scan versus interlace does not make it an HD remake. I feel calling Code Veronica an HD remake is simply false advertising.

Score: 2 for 6 - Unless the game sells for $20, no buy here for me. The process of re-releasing the same game with a few new features has gotten old quick.



Bonus Question) So far in October, we've had Rage, Dark Souls, Batman, Battlefield and more release. Some of these titles will get ignored due to just the sheer number of games releasing.

Stewart Lange - Fact: Absolutely. Even if I had the money to go and spend £40 a week on a new game, I wouldn't have the time to play them all. Between my writing commitments, work commitments, marriage commitments and you know, like, time to eat and stuff, I couldn't get through them all. The only one I'm really bothered about at the moment is Batman, then Skyrim, Assassins Creed is traditionally my Christmas present from Mrs. Lange, so that's those covered. With regards to Rage, I've heard mixed things, I'm not patient enough for Dark Souls, I'll get Battlefield and COD eventually for a blast through but the three I've mentioned above, plus finishing Dead Island should keep me going until Mass Effect 3.

Mark Salmela - Fact: Of course some of these games will suffer. Who has the money for all these games? I buy a lot of video games new, way more than all my friends, and even I had to ignore some of these titles. I'm interested in playing Rage, but that's an example of a game I have to completely ignore because I simply don't have the extra time or money for it. I feel more games should be delayed until January or February 2012 just to avoid getting crushed. As Much as I like Dark Souls and Rage I feel these are two games that would have sold better Q1 2012 than October 2011. Same applies for Saints Row 3 when it comes out next month.

Adam Larck - Fact: I think Rage and Dark Souls could have done much better with a summer or spring release. However, competing against Batman and Battlefield 3 just wasn't a good idea. However, a delay wouldn't help much due to Mass Effect 3 and other bigger titles releasing next year. It just goes to show that too many good games are being made, with not enough time to check them all out.

The pair finish this week going 2-for-6. What do you think? Agree or disagree with their answers? Let us know. See you in seven!