The Negative Edge News Report 05.08.08

Posted by Tommy Coloma on 05.08.2008

The beginning of the end for guitar rhythm games, the way sequels should be developed, and copy protection fun. Plus, a look at this week's releases and more!



Last week I talked about how I wasn't going to get GTA IV for a little while, mostly because I wanted to finish a certain RPG that I was currently working on. Unfortunately, someone decided to get me a copy of the game for my birthday last week so, against my better judgment, I put whatever I was playing aside, tried it out, and found that everyone was right - GTA IV is a blast to play. The story is compelling enough for me to want to play through it, but even if I didn't want to do that, there is plenty of nothing to do as well. I found myself blowing off my cousin most of the time in order to go on dates and beat people up for money. While I like the game a lot, I do have some issues with all the high scores it's been getting. There are way too many issues, AI and camera angle ones in particular, that everyone seems to be glossing over. And while I've played very little of the PS2 GTAs, I've played them enough to see that the improvements in the graphics and animation are really more akin to the improvements between Halo 2 to Halo 3 - they're noticeable, but they aren't that big of a leap. The same thing goes for gameplay. And everyone keeps telling me that if you can think of something to do in the game, you can probably do it. I'd love to get some of that Kool-Aid that they're drinking as I could think of quite a few things that I tried that weren't doable. But overall, I can see myself playing this game off and on for a long time, especially if/when I get a Gold account again. One of my relatives got the PS3 version and just kept going on and on about how awesome online play is. I want to try that some day but I don't feel like getting a Gold account just for one game. I guess not having a Gold account worked out in my favor though. I don't need another reason to put even more hours into the game than I already have. I'd like to have a life too...

Let's go -


The Music Box

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I've said it before, but I though that it was worth mentioning again - Blaster Master is one of my favorite games of all time. It shouldn't be any surprise seeing as how the images in the title bar up above were lifted from it. While it is fun and challenging and has great graphics, what really puts it over the top in my opinion is the awesome soundtrack. It was so good that I started this section off back in December with a song from the game. It never occurred to me until today that maybe the person responsible for Blaster Master's excellent soundtrack had some other noteworthy things under his/her belt. As far as I can tell, the artist in question was responsible for the soundtracks for at least two other Sunsoft games, namely Batman and the game from which this week's song originates. I honestly don't feel that any of the artist's other work stands up to what was done for Blaster Master, but this week's song seems to be pretty popular so I figured that I might as well showcase it. After doing some research, I found out that this week's game was originally supposed make use of the Terminator license, but somehow Sunsoft lost the license. It's a shame, as the YouTube videos that I watched made me really want to eBay it. How cool would it have been to have a decent Terminator game (the arcade game notwithstanding) back in the day?


The News As I See It

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Because of the change to my game playing habits over the past week thanks of a certain sandboxy game, this will be the fastest column that I've ever written. I hope that it turned out ok...

Aerosmith sells out to Guitar Hero. The happy-fun world you once knew is about to end.
According to N'Gai Croal over at Newsweek.com, Aerosmith's music is now exclusive to the Guitar Hero franchise. Unfortunately, he was not able to give us the crappy song to decent song ratio that we can expect once the group's music gets the download pack treatment.

I knew this was coming, but I didn't expect it to happen so soon. Exclusives rights to artists means that fans of these types of games will soon be forced to buy games that they don't want in order to play with their favorite songs. It's like having to buy both a PS3 and an Xbox 360 in order to play your favorite franchises, only on a smaller, more insidious scale. No matter what they may say, this is nothing but bad news for the consumer.

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We won't sequelize our game Guitar Hero-style. Our follow-up will be better than the original.
Doug Lombardi, the vice president of marketing over at Valve, recently told CVG that while Valve is already making plans for Portal 2, it will not follow popular convention and just "pump out more and cash in on the success of the first one." Instead, a lot of research and development is being done to make sure that the sequel won't just be "Portal with different coloured textures."

There isn't much to add here. I just wanted to point out that there really are companies out there that are interested in putting out good products and are not simply in it for a quick buck. Of course, the bottom line for most companies is to make money, and I'm sure that Valve is no exception. It's just so cool that they're doing it in a way that keeps a popular franchise afloat instead of burning it out. In the long run, they'll have a series that they can continue to make money out of for years to come and fans will be able to look forward to the next installment without reservations. Everybody wins!

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Even though you bought the game, we'll still treat you like shit.
According to Derek French, BioWare's technical producer, Mass Effect and Spore on the PC will employ copy protection features that will definitely piss off legit owners of said games while giving those who resorted to piracy yet another reason to justify their actions. The copy protection works by making the games validate themselves online every ten days. If the game is not brought online for ten days straight, it will stop functioning until it is brought online again. Gamers who are traveling or who do not have consistent Internet connections are SOL.

If someone wants to pirate a game, he or she is going to it. It's inevitable. Thankfully, there are usually more than enough people who play their games legitimately; as long as a game does not suck, people will buy it. For those of us who buy our games, this copy protection bullshit is a pain and can actually cause us to not want to play. It is really annoying to have to have a disc whenever we get the craving to play when the complete game is already in our computer after installation. That's something that console owners get to deal with. There is no reason for PC gamers to have to worry about those things. My solution has always been to crack my own games. From Red Alert II to Battlefield 2, all of the PC games (save for Guild Wars and anything on Steam) are cracked so that I don't have to hunt for CDs whenever I get a craving to play. If I get Spore, the first thing I'm going to do is Google a crack for it. What are they going to do? Sue me for wanting to play a game that I bought without any time restrictions? I'd love to see them try...


Screenshot of the week

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Dogmeat
I found this one while perusing Bethesda's Fallout page. My gut tells me that Dogmeat will be this year's companion cube. If Bethesda decides to sell Dogmeat plushies along with an iguana-on-a-stick, it'll quickly sell out and then go for hundreds on eBay. I just know it!


Mmmm. Tasty!

The Little Things

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While they may not seem like much individually, taken together, the little things that developers include in their games help to make your gaming experience much more memorable. With this section, I hope to draw your attention to just some of the little gems out there.


When you talk to someone for the first time in a game, there is one thing that you can always expect - that the person's name will appear when he or she talks to you despite the fact that you've never met him or her before. The first game where I noticed that this wasn't the case was Persona 3; in this game, the person's name doesn't show up until you are explicitly told it. Instead, you get a description, as shown in the video above.

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The delivery Metis gives at the end of some of the battles will stay with you forever.


The Release List

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It's Golden Week over in Japan, so there aren't any notable release from across the sea. This is also the week following one of the biggest launches ever, so you shouldn't be surprised that there aren't too many things out this week in America either. As usual, here are some of this weeks more notable releases -


SNK Arcade Classics: Volume 1 (PS2 and PSP)
Apparently, someone at SNK figured out that last week probably wasn't a good time to release a compilation of games that were made in the 90s. I think that they should have waited one more week. Regardless, both versions come with Art of Fighting, Baseball Stars 2, Burning Fight, Fatal Fury, KOF '94, King of the Monsters, Last Resort, Magician Lord, Metal Slug, Neo Turf Masters, Samurai Showdown, Sengoku, Shock Troopers, Super Sidekicks 3, Top Hunter, and World Heroes. There are a lot of good games in this compilation, but a lot of them have sequels that are far and away better. You might want to consider that before buying this. Oddly enough, the PSP version costs $30 while the PS2 version costs $20. If I had to choose one, I'd go with the PSP version as arcade games such as these are perfect on the go. However, I would wait a few months for the price to drop. As much as I like the games in this compilation, I don't like the idea of paying more for a portable version. It just seems wrong.

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Boom Blox (Wii)
Every single one of the podcasters that I listen to that have played this game have nothing but good things to say about it. I'm still skeptical though. Even though Steven Spielberg had a hand in creating it, I still want to play a demo before taking this one home. We'll never get one though, so does anyone care to share his or her experiences with the game? Maybe I'll take a chance and base my purchase on reader feedback.

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R-Type Command (PSP)
I'd much rather have a regular R-Type game, but a tactical one could be good. Fortunately, a demo is available at the PlayStation Store. If you actually plan on picking this up, you might want to look into getting the sweet figurine that select stores are giving away. You have a better chance at getting it by ordering from EBGames over the phone. Just make sure that you ask them if they still have some left before placing the order.

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Pokemon Puzzle League (Wii VC)
I haven't played Pokemon Puzzle League, but I have tried Panel de Pon and Tetris Attack and those were pretty fun. Pokemon Puzzle League is basically those games, only reskinned with Pokemon characters and references. Check out the video to see how the game plays.

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Renegade (Wii VC)
When I hear the name Renegade, I think only one thing - Poor Man's Double Dragon. That pretty much sums it up right there. If you're going to get a beat-'em-up, get Double Dragon or River City Ransom instead. If you have someone to play with, definitely get River City Ransom. You can thank me later.


Just Around The Corner

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X Edge (PS3 Import)
According to RPGFan, Compile Heart is currently working hard on X Edge, an RPG for the PS3 that features characters from games developed by Idea Factory, Gust, Capcom, Nippon Ichi Software, and Bandai Namco Games. So far, the following characters have been confirmed -

Mue (Spectral Souls)
Marie (Atelier Marie)
Roze (Mana Khemia 2)
Liliane (Mana Khemia 2)
Morrigan (Darkstalkers)
Felicia (Darkstalkers)
Demitri (Darkstalkers)
Etna (Disgaea)
Prinny (Disgaea)
Aurica (Ar tonelico)
Misha (Ar tonelico)
Shurelia (Ar tonelico)

Unfortunately, the chances of this being localized are next to nil. Namco X Capcom from 2005 never made it to the US, and that was a crossover between just two companies. It would be even harder to bring the game over with five of them. We can only hope that it receives the Phoenix Wright treatment with an English translation option. Being able to import and play a Japanese RPG in English would be pretty sweet.


To Be Continued...

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That's it for this week.

Some strange looking man in front of me suddenly turned into a robot after grabbing a chimp. If I can get away from the robot without getting physically and mentally injured, I'll be back next week.