Around the Gaming World News Report 02.10.12
Posted by Chris Ferrell on 02.10.2012
News and thoughts on the return of Final Fantasy X, Twisted Metal X getting delayed for some people, new apps hitting the PSN and Xbox Live, Mass Effect 3's demo giving free Xbox Live Gold accounts, plus how to get your hands on the PlayStation Vita and more!
Welcome to the second installment of Around the Gaming World. First I wanted to say thanks to those that posted comments last week. It is my intent to provide updates on all of the consoles. I will be the first to admit my main system is the Xbox 360 and that causes me to lump some multi-platform news into that category.
Lesson learned for me though, I didn't realize that posting about the number of console sales would spark such debate in the comments. I'll try to address some of your comments below.
Besides, had Microsoft not released the Kinect, which I guarantee will go the way of the Wii, do you honestly think that the consoles would be that far apart? The answer is no, and anyone with half a brain can look at sales figures that corroborate that.
Am I a Sony fanboy? No, I own all 3 systems and they get equal playtime, I just truly hate to see someone talk completely out of their ass and twist and skew things to suit their own agenda.
Posted By: D (Guest) on February 03, 2012 at 02:48 PM
I concede that the release of the Kinect has lead to a big number jump for Microsoft. From a technology standpoint the Kinect is in incredible piece of hardware. Some of the things people are doing with Kinect as a sensor instead of a game peripheral are truly impressive.
I'll be the first to admit that the Kinect on whole does not appeal to me. The motion games have not appealed to me on either the Wii or the Xbox as the motion controls have seemed gimmicky. However, Microsoft looks to be making an effort to ensure the Kinect remains a centerpiece for the Xbox. The voice and gesture commands in the dashboard have been embraced by Microsoft as they redid the dashboard to better accommodate these features. Also, there are Kinect features that are being released to appeal to traditional gamers. I really do think the addition of voice commands in Mass Effect 3 will be pretty cool and useful. Is it necessary? No, but it should be fun.
despite coming out last and having a shaky start, this gen the PS3 carved out a fantastic niche for itself. It can do almost all the xbox games and have a whole slew of exclusives, both first party and third party, while the Xbox has a scant few of these. Since the Xbox is dead in Japan, most japanese devs make PS3 only games, like Valkyria Chronicles or Disgaea for example.
Sony has nothing to worry about launching last if the Xbox continues to be a non-factor everywhere else in the world that isn't north america.
Posted By: Guest#9837 (Guest) on February 08, 2012 at 01:28 AM
The failure of the Xbox in Japan is a problem for the Xbox and more-so for fans that like JRPGs as they are only coming out on the PS3. The best I can say for Microsoft is that at least the Xbox 360 sold a little bit better than the original in Japan. The Xbox guys made an effort with exclusives like Blue Dragon it just didn't seem to help any, and in North America people buy an Xbox for shooters not RPGs. The reason I got my PS3 was to play some of the Sony exclusive games.
Get Hands on With The PlayStation Vita - Demo units of the PlayStation Vita are available for playing at your local GameStop. This is a chance to try the fairly expensive handheld. There are a variety of games that will be made playable on the demo units, this includes Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Little Deviants and WipeOut: 2048.
This is smart move by Sony to get demo units into gamers' hands. There are some that are skeptical of the upcoming handheld system and getting a chance to try the system could change their minds on the Vita.
Personally, I'm not a big handheld gamer anymore, aside from the occasional casual game on my iPhone. That being said, I really do want to try out the PlayStation Vita. I would like to see for myself how the touchpad on the back works and how good the graphics look on the display. If I get a chance I'll be trying out Uncharted: Golden Abyss. I'm not a big fan of Gamestop but it looks like this will be the easiest way for me to try out the upcoming system.
New Sports Apps on PSN - PSN has just added two new media apps for college sports fans. The XOS College Sports and SEC Digital Network apps each offer a variety of new and old content that can be streamed right to the PS3. It's the first time either content provider has appeared on a videogame console, and both can be had for free. The trade-off is that a lot of the content within must be paid for.
Seeing apps exclusive to the PS3 is pretty important in my opinion. Sony and Microsoft are both allowing apps to be installed on their consoles that provide access to online content.
It's these exclusive apps that will give Sony and edge in the current console war. If the only way a gamer can get the SEC Network on their TV is by owning a PS3 they might be willing to consider it. Sports fans, much like gamers, are fanatical about the subjects they love. If you're a sports fan the PS3 seems to be the console of choice for exclusive apps. It currently has access to MLB.tv, NFL Sunday Ticket and NHL GameCenter. Meanwhile the Xbox 360 has access to ESPN 3. As an owner of both systems I'm certainly enjoying all of the sports content available to me.
Twisted Metal Delayed... In Europe - The release of the upcoming Twisted Metal has been delayed for those in Europe. It seems the bulk of these changes have been done to reduce some of the violent overtones in the game. Twisted Metal co-creator David Jaffe explained one of the changes, "I think the guy on the gurney from Meat Wagon is dead so you are exploding a corpse covered with TNT vs. a screaming man trapped to the gurney." Estimates are that the game will release on March 1 for all of our friends in Europe... it will just be a little less violent.
I always hate to see games have different release schedules between North America and Europe. It has to be something very frustrating to people waiting for a new game release. I know that if I had a friend overseas who got a game first and then could brag about it, I would be jealous at the very least.
The more concerning thing about this delay to me is the altering of the game to remove some of the violent overtones. I realize that European ratings are much stricter but there are worse things that can be seen on TV or in movies. One would think that kids could make a distinction between video game events and events that take place in the real world.
PS3 New Releases: In all honesty, I'm only familiar with a few of them this month. I will admit, that I'm pretty excited to see how Twisted Metal X turns out. I played the older Twisted Metal games when I was younger. Even though I am horrible at driving games I had a lot of fun playing. Hopefully Twisted Metal X is able to recapture the fun I had as a kid. The Darkness 2 is a game that I also think could be a lot of fun. The first Darkness game was surprisingly fun and didn't feel like a conventional FPS.
New Apps Hit Xbox Live - Two new apps are set to release on the Xbox 360 to add to your movie watching needs. The first app, Crackle, allows Xbox Live subscribers to watch free movies with limited commercial interruptions. The other app going live is Best Buy's CinemaNow. The movies in this app will cost you money though.
The ongoing addition of new apps is part of Microsoft's plan to make the Xbox 360 the center of your home media center. There are already apps available for popular services like Netflix, Hulu and YouTube. Adding more viewing options is a smart move by Microsoft. More options for movies will more than likely keep people on their Xbox even longer. I've watched some of these channels on my Roku box. Crackle really doesn't have a huge selection of movies to watch. If fact most of the movies are older and/or fairly bad. But if all else fails it's something to watch. The commercials only last for about a minute at a time which isn't bad for free movie viewing. CinemaNow will allow gamers to watch new release movies. I'll be honest, I'm surprised to see this app come out as it looks like it would compete with the Zune Marketplace.
I'm still waiting for the HBO-Go and Xfinity OnDemand apps to hit the marketplace. I've been waiting for these for a while as they would be channels I watch a lot. There are plenty of shows on HBO that I still want to watch and being able to access those in HD on my Xbox would be great. As for the Xfinity OnDemand my hope is the web interface would be much better than what my DVR box provides.
Mass Effect 3 Demo Gives You Free (XBL) Gold - The upcoming demo for Mass Effect 3 will allow gamers to try out the somewhat controversial multiplayer element that has been added to the award winning series. Microsoft has said, "In celebration of ME3, Xbox is pleased to provide fans access to ME3 demo multiplayer for the time leading to launch. Xbox LIVE Gold gives you exclusive benefits including multiplayer gaming, member-only deals & previews, and access to entertainment with Netflix, ESPN, Hulu Plus and more."
If you aren't currently an Xbox Live Gold subscriber this is a pretty good deal. What is probably the best part of this deal is the free bump up to Gold will last until Mass Effect 3 releases on March 6th. Not only do Xbox gamers get a chance to try out Mass Effect 3, but they will be able to test drive all the other apps and services available on the Xbox 360. All in all, this seems like a smart move by Microsoft.
To be fair, Sony will not have this same issues if/when they release a demo for Mass Effect 3. The free nature of PSN makes it so that any gamer can try the multiplayer demo with no limitations. With the establishment of a free PlayStation Network and the pending Nintendo network it might be time for Microsoft to reevaluate their business plan for Xbox Live. Maybe they could adopt a model similar to PSN where the bulk of services are free and gamers subscribe for premium content.
Don't forget, the Mass Effect 3 demo releases on Single's Awareness Day, aka Valentine's Day, this month.
C-360 Coming to a Galaxy Far Far Away - Microsoft's Major Nelson announced in a series of tweets that the Star Wars Xbox 360 Kinect bundle will finally be available on April 3rd. This Xbox is painted to look like R2-D2, features a C-3P0 golden controller, and a white Kinect sensor. The console is bundled with a 320 GB hard drive, Star Wars Kinect, and Kinect Adventures. The new console will run you $449.
This is a fusion of two of my favorite things, video games and Star Wars. In all honesty, if I didn't already have an Xbox I would be tempted by this bundle. One of my concerns would be that the golden finish on the controller would act as a magnet for fingerprints. With the shiny finish I just don't see how the controller will look clean after an extended gaming session.
While I think this console is pretty cool, it shows a trend that Microsoft has developed. There are more and more ‘special edition' Xbox systems released each year. It's starting to get a little tiresome. Nintendo and Sony don't rely on this gimmick nearly as much, I'm not sure why Microsoft feels the need to do so.
Xbox 360 New Releases: I've played some of the older UFC games, or at least their demos, and I have always found them fun. I'm not a big fan of fighting games though, so I probably won't be picking up this new release. The same can be said for Mortal Kombat: Komplete Edition. It's great to see the franchise continue, but I've always been terrible at just about everything in the fighting genre.
There's New Skylanders... If That's Your Thing - Activision has released new figures for use in the Skylanders game. These figures add new characters and abilities to the game as well as new environments. The "Empire of Ice" Adventure Pack includes a new ice-themed area, along with a new Water-element toy (and character), Slam Bam. Additionally, new standalone figures are available of the undead dragon Cynder, who has a "difficult past," and Double Trouble, an inept wizard.
The Skylanders game intrigues me. I'm sure if I was a kid or if I had children I would be purchasing the game and the add-on figures. In my opinion, there is just something cool about having a tangible figure that I can then put into the virtual world that makes up the game.
Granted, this is just a new version of the Pokémon craze but this time with a twist. Activision is able to sell physical components that work in a virtual game. I'm sure this combination is greatly helping their bottom line. I look at it this way, this is basically new DLC packaged with figures. You get something tangible with your new maps, characters and powers.
THQ Kills of the uDraw - THQ will no longer manufacture uDraw hardware, according to its fiscal 2012 third quarter financial report. THQ President and CEO Brian Farrell provided the following, "Sales of the uDraw GameTablet and related software, and other titles in the kids, family and casual category were far weaker than anticipated, substantially reducing our financial results for the quarter."
It's been a rough quarter for THQ and it doesn't look like it's going to get better anytime soon. The uDraw had some pretty good success on the Wii during the holiday season in 2010. After seeing this success THQ got greedy and decided to release the uDraw on both the Xbox and PS3.
I never got to use the uDraw but it seemed like an interesting new peripheral that would be kid friendly, especially friendly for younger gamers. It was a perfect fit for the Wii. Hopefully THQ continues to provide some support for the uDraw but it seems unlikely based on the dire financial straits the company has found itself in. It is much more profitable to make a new Saint's Row game so my guess is that's the path THQ takes. The question is, what does the failure of the uDraw say about the future of the Wii-U? Both are similar in regards to the fact they employ larger tablets to interface with the system. Realistically, I think that the Wii-U will be fine in the end.
Wii New Releases: When I checked the upcoming release schedule for the Wii imagine my shock when I saw that only one game was slated to be released in February. This might be part of the reason why gamers are becoming less and less interested in the Wii. With few games coming out on the system they better be good. In this case I really don't think that Captain Morgane And The Golden Turtle is going to drive more gamers to play on the Wii. With the release of that game there are no new Wii games slated to release in February. It's starting to seem pretty obvious that Nintendo's focus right now is on the 3DS and the upcoming Wii-U.
Final Fantasy X Comeback in the Works - Sony has announced that the version of Final Fantasy X being released on both the PS3 and the Playstation Vita will not be a remake of the classic. Instead, the game will be your standard HD remaster. This release will be similar to the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection released last year.
Sony has teased the remaking of certain Final Fantasy games as far back as the release of the PS2. When the PS2 was announced Sony showed off footage from Final Fantasy VII touched up to meet the graphics of the PS2. Later with the PS3 Sony did the same thing. Seeing Final Fantasy VII in HD as well as cryptic hints from Sony has given fans hope that one day the game might be remade to make use of the graphical power of the PS3.
Final Fantasy VII has long been considered one of the best Final Fantasy games ever. Personally, I like Final Fantasy VIII more and I'm told that makes me weird. This is why I was at first surprised to see that Final Fantasy X would be getting the re-release treatment. After I thought about it, it did make some sense though. FFX was released on the PS2 while FF VIII was on the PS1. It's much easier to redo the graphics from a game that from the previous generation instead of two generations back.
I would love to see FF VII or FF VIII upconverted to HD and released on the PS3. Even better I would love to see the games remade from the ground up. The stories were fantastic and these are two of my favorite games to play. In fact I have both games downloaded on my PS3. With the pending release of FFX I'm going to hold onto my fanboy dream that FFVII gets remade one day.
That wraps things up for the week. Before leaving I wanted to give you all a friendly reminder that the Mass Effect 3 demo comes out next week on the 14th, aka Singles Awareness Day. Since it looks to be multiplayer I'll be online playing that night. Look for Spidey616 if you want to party up and explore the demo.
As always, please make use of the comments to let me know what you are thinking. Feedback is always welcomed.
Final Fantasy VIII is my personal favorite, too. Followed very closely by IV. So, you're not too weird.
Posted By: save_us.djs (Guest) on February 10, 2012 at 12:28 AM
Yeah, Final Fantasy VIII is my favorite of the series, as well. You've got more company in that respect than you think
Posted By: kennedyfan (Guest) on February 10, 2012 at 01:43 AM
The use of near-field communication for Skylanders is absolutely genius. It's a marketing dream come true. Lure the kiddies in with the game and then get MORE money from having to buy physical toys to get stronger!
If only they incorporated this technology with a stronger, more well known franchise.
Near-Field communication + Pokemon = Money.
For all the flack FF13 gets, most people don't seem to realize that FFX was just as linear, it just didn't make that fact blatantly obvious with the map being a straight corridor!
Posted By: Mr. Ace Crusher (Guest) on February 10, 2012 at 01:53 AM
VI is the best, and is a major reason why I never upgraded my DS to a DSi or a 3DS. It's just that good.
Posted By: Guest#5130 (Guest) on February 10, 2012 at 03:48 AM
Idk. VII and VIII are amazing and all but I think I would prefer to see X. Honestly my favorite of them all is XII. Which comes as a surprise to some people but it's whatever. I love that game. Made my teens lol
Posted By: goodolsscutup (Guest) on February 10, 2012 at 08:17 AM
I don't want to get into the argument of which FF is better than which. Let's just all agree the series has a lot of fans there is no universal acceptance of which is the best.... but it's not 12 or 13. Go back to the old combat!
Posted By: Guest#4793 (Guest) on February 10, 2012 at 08:27 AM
What exclusive JRPGs are being released on PS3 exactly? JRPGs are dead in the US, they just don't get translated because, as was stated in the column, the US just buys FPS games. Pretty much now it's just Square releasing something, usually an FF game, every year or so.
The DS and probably soon the 3DS are where the JRPGs, which do get translated, go.
I'm a huge JRPG fan but really, the 360 had the more US ones and earlier, it just didn't help any. There hasn't been a good one since probably Magna Carta 2, which I think wasn't even a JRPG but was actually Korean.
I only got the 360 because of games like SO4, LO, BD, Enchanted Arms and Vesperia. But those games are all years old now. The 360 had a few more, and the PS3 now has most of those games too, but not newer games.
Since JRPGs have effectively been killed off in the US on consoles, I no longer have a console now and just play on PC. The biggest reason I always got consoles was for RPGs and some first party games, like Nintendo has with Mario. Sega has been bad for awhile but their new games like Sonic Generations get PC releases anyway.
The past few years I've mostly been playing WRPGs, like Fallout 3, New Vegas, Dragon Age, Skyrim and I will probably get Kingdoms of Amalur in the near future. All of those are better on PC because of the modding ability, so there is no reason to get a console for them, and of course, they're not JRPGs which was kind of the point of the previous comments.
If I saw an announcement where PS3 (or PS4 or any other console) had about 5 or so JRPGs planned for the next year or two, I'd go and get that console. I haven't liked Square for awhile and didn't enjoy XII or XIII at all, X was okay but I wouldn't want to play it again, IX was probably the last one I truly enjoyed and replayed a few times.
I know JRPGs aren't supposed to have replay value, but I always play them several times if I like them. I play for the story, the characters, the music, the worlds. I just haven't felt that connection from a console JRPG for years, Vesperia was probably the last one for me and I played it at least 4x through.
The JRPG is dead in the US, at least to me, and I feel like if someone like me who is just such a huge fan of this genre just gives up, it's rather indicative that the genre is dead in the US. Fortunately the handhelds are still there for me so I get my fix, plus RPG Maker games that people make, but come on, again, something is wrong with the releases if I have to play those because the consoles aren't meeting my needs!
Posted By: Guest#3485 (Guest) on February 10, 2012 at 12:33 PM
I dig FF8 more than FF7 too. It's been people say they like FF9 more.
Posted By: Guest#7883 (Guest) on February 10, 2012 at 06:36 PM
Ok, so 98% of all RPGs come from Japan. So does that make them automatically make them a JRPG? NO, it doesnt! The FF series are faaar from JRPGs, Same with the Dragon Quest series as well.
Agarest War, Vanguard Bandits, and damn near anything made by ATLUS would quailfy as a JRPG.
Posted By: Guest#6366 (Guest) on February 11, 2012 at 12:48 AM
"While I think this console is pretty cool, it shows a trend that Microsoft has developed. There are more and more ‘special edition' Xbox systems released each year. It's starting to get a little tiresome. Nintendo and Sony don't rely on this gimmick nearly as much, I'm not sure why Microsoft feels the need to do so."
I'm sure if they're consoles had higher failure rates, they'd come out with more special editions to lure folks back in.
Posted By: G-Walla (Guest) on February 11, 2012 at 06:49 PM
There's nothing "weird" about preferring VIII to VII. Personally, my top five would be VI, X, IX, VII, VIII, but really, any of those are an acceptable top choice. And yeah, it makes the most sense for X to be the one remade for two several reasons. First, as mentioned by the writer, it was released on the PS2. Not only are the graphics much easier to convert to HD, but this was the first Final Fantasy with voice acting, which is pretty much a requirement these days, for better or worse. This effectively rules out every other Final Fantasy except XII. Second, it was released far enough back (more than 10 years now) that there's a ton of gamers who have probably either never played the original or would be dying to replay it in HD. In contrast, XII was released in 2006, so it hasn't been that long. Third, it was one of the highest-selling Final Fantasy games ever, with more than 8 million units worldwide, second only to VII's nearly 10 million. It also sold better in North America than any other game in the series except for VII, with nearly 3 million units. By comparison, XII sold just under six million units worldwide, with just under two million of those in North America. Third, it was among the most critically acclaimed games in the series, scoring 9.2 on Metacritic and 9.1 on IMDB. Admittedly, XII also has a 9.2 on Metacritic, but XII wasn't as beloved by the fans, scoring an 8.3 on IMDB (though the sample size is only about 1500 votes).
For all these reasons, X is the obvious choice to be remade in HD. I think this is a trial balloon for other games in the franchise, though. If the X remake flops, then that's probably the end of the discussion for a remake of VII or any other game in the franchise. But if it's a big success (admittedly, I don't know what exactly that would mean in terms of sales, though I don't think it would be expected to do as well as a brand new game because even an expensive HD remake has to be cheaper than writing and designing a whole new game from scratch), then Square may decide that it makes sense financially to start remaking their other classics. I think they would certainly do VII next because it was the most successful. VI is the one I'd be really dreaming of. At any rate, I'm definitely planning on getting the X remake. I don't own a PS3 yet (there's very little that I can't just play on my computer, and I played XIII on a former roommate's XBOX 360), but I'll buy one just for this game because I have it ranked among my top five RPGs of all time, along with Final Fantasy VI, Betrayal at Krondor, Xenogears, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
Posted By: John (Guest) on February 12, 2012 at 06:00 AM
The reason X being remade isn't weird is because X is THE most popular Final Fantasy in Japan. It's always topping the Famitsu "best game ever as chosen by our readers" list.
VII is still loved there, but X is the favorite.
Posted By: whatever... (Guest) on February 16, 2012 at 08:34 PM
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