411 Games Fact or Fiction 08.28.07: Little Sisters in BioShock, the lack of Halo 3 clan support, Nippon Ichi's future Xbox 360 games, & More!
Posted by Tommy Coloma on 08.28.2007
411's Greg Bruno and Steve McHugh give us their thoughts on Killing Little Sisters in BioShock, continued developer support for the PS2, giving other downloadable games the Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix treatment, shutting down servers for online games too early, the lack of clan support in one of the biggest online games this year, and Nippon Ichi's Xbox 360 support in this edition of Fact or Fiction Games.
Welcome to another edition of Fact or Fiction. This week Greg Bruno and Steve McHugh return to tell us what they think about some of today's most important news and issues.
Greg does reviews for the Games section. He is currently working on ones for BioShock for the Xbox 360 and the Xbox Live Arcade version of Ecco The Dolphin.
Steve has his own column, Flashback, where he talks about some of the older games that you may have missed out on. His latest takes a look at Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic for the Xbox. Check it out to see why this title is considered one of the best games on the system. Steve also does reviews. His latest is one for Picross for the DS. He is also working on reviews for Blue Dragon for the Xbox 360 and Sonic the Hedgehog for Xbox Live Arcade.
Lets go -
1. It's ok to want to kill Little Sisters in BioShock.
Greg Bruno: FACT
Of course it's ok to kill the little sisters in BioShock. Just like it's ok NOT to kill them, as well. The city of Rapture doesn't follow the same set of rules and norms that the rest of the world does. That's the beauty of BioShock. It allows players to exist in a world separate from our own. Technically, they aren't little girls, so to speak. They are mutated, spliced up creatures.
Steve McHugh: FACT
Well, my copy of BioShock is still in the post so I say kill 'em all. Kill everything because I can't play this yet and it angers me. On a more serious note, the whole point of the game is that it's based on your own moral or ethical choices so it's up to you if you want to kill them or not. Besides, like Greg says, technically they're not little girls any more.
Score: 1 for 1
2. Since the PS2 is still outselling most of the next-gen consoles, game makers should still focus on making quality games for the system.
Greg Bruno: FACT
The PS2 has time and time again established itself as a dominant system, even after its next-gen big brother arrived on the scene. It's still very obvious that excellent games can be made for the system. Hell, God of War II was an amazing title that sold extremely well. That alone should show developers that it's not a dead brick.
Steve McHugh: FACT
Well factish. Yes the PS2 is still selling well and Sony would be stupid to not support that, but they should be wanting people to buy a PS3, not a PS2. A lot of the effort put into PS2 games should be moving across to the PS3 to make that a more attractive prospect. Otherwise, you've got a situation like now where there's lots of great games on the PS2 and very few on the PS3 and that's not a good thing for Sony.
Score: 2 for 2
3. The release of Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix at the end of the month will usher in a new era in which downloadable versions of popular classic games are given the update treatment that they deserve.
Greg Bruno: FICTION
Although I wish this would happen, since I'm getting pretty sick of plain retro ports with barely any enhancements. Puzzle Fighter will be a breathe of fresh air, no doubt, but I don't think it will revolutionize anything at all. It's going to take a much bigger franchise to do something like that.
Steve McHugh: FICTION
I wish this would happen as there are a ton of games that should make it to XBLA and the VC with a few updates (online play, graphics improvements, etc). Every now and then a game is released that does this but all too frequently it's just a simple port with nothing done to update it. So long as it doesn't impede the gameplay or the feeling of the game then updates of classics are a good idea, but as good as Puzzle Fighter is it's not popular enough to change the way things have been done.
Score: 3 for 3
4. The online servers for DDR SuperNOVA will be shut down in September despite the fact that the game just came out last year. Over a year of online goodness is reasonable as gamers who use this or similar services shouldn't expect to be playing their games online for very long anyway.
Steve McHugh: FICTION
Only having a year to play a game before the online support is cut off is not a good thing. EA does this with their sports games and it's not right then either. On the other hand, how many people actually play DDR online? So maybe it's a case of Konami just not being able to keep the online portion open as a viable source of expenditure. Whatever the reason may be, any company switching off their game servers after 1 year does nothing to endear that company to the people who paid them money to be able to use that service.
Greg Bruno: FICTION
One year of online service and no more online? C'mon! That's awful! The price better come down drastically to make up for such nonsense. If you intend to develop a game and tout that it will include an option to play online, you had better back that up for quite some time. One year is hardly even giving it a chance.
Score: 4 for 4
5. It has been revealed that Halo 3 will not have clan support. Not too many gamers will notice that the option is missing.
Steve McHugh: FACT
Yes, some people are going to notice this isn't there but for the majority of players I just don't see them being too concerned. 1 million people have pre-ordered this game so I can't see the majority of them caring if the game has Clan support or not.
Greg Bruno: FACT
Not many people know this, but way back in the day (see: yesterday) I was an avid Halo gamer myself. When Bungie took away the clan matches in Halo 2, my first reaction was, "Meh." Clans, like Bungie says, ended up becoming just another, larger friends list. Not many gamers will miss this and I doubt many will even notice given all of the extra super-deluxe new features packed into Halo 3.
Score: 5 for 5
6. Nippon Ichi, the publisher of titles such as Atelier Iris, GrimGrimoire, and Ar Tonelico and the developer of Disgaea, will now be developing games for the Xbox 360. Whatever games they eventually develop for the system will sell like hotcakes.
Steve McHugh: FICTION
Oh how I wish I could say otherwise. Disgaea is one of the best games on the PS2 and it sold about 6 copies and GrimGrimoire seems like a fresh and interesting game. But no, they won't sell like hotcakes. However, hopefully they will (if past performance is an indicator) be fantastic. Just please make Disgaea 3 and I'll be happy.
Greg Bruno: FICTION
I'll go with fiction on this one, simply because I've never heard of any of those titles. Does that make me a bad person? No, but listening to Limp Bizkit does. However, more titles in the Xbox 360 line-up can't be a bad thing. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to find my red NY hat and break stuff.
Score: 6 for 6
We have a final score of 6 for 6. Don't forget to join us next Friday for more Fact or Fiction! I suggest that you do come back, for it is said that doing so helps to keep Crazy Otto from thinking that you are food when he's in the mood for a snack.
