The Negative Edge News Report 08.21.08

Posted by Tommy Coloma on 08.21.2008

This week we have look at the cast for Red Alert 3, take another shot at the Xbox 360's controller, see what Harmonix thinks about musician exclusivity in music games, explore the differences in the PS3 version of Bioshock, and More!



I played more Bionic Commando and Lost Odyssey this week. Both continue to amaze. A word of warning about Lost Odyssey - don't ignore the children like I did, or you'll find yourself grinding like crazy later on. They're annoying, but you'll definitely need them at least once in the third disc. I'm looking forward to a night of grinding, but before I get to that fun stuff, let's do the news -


The News As I See It

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Shake it BABY!

It was pretty clear from the start that Kari Wuhrer was not going to reprise her role as the ass-kicking Tanya in Red Alert 3. The "talent" that had been tapped for Command & Conquer 3 showed that EA is interested in actors and actresses that are a little more mainstream. Those wondering who will be taking Kari's place as the most recognizeable character in the Red Alert universe need not wonder any longer, as EA has just announced that Jenny McCarthy will be making the role of Tanya her own. Tanya as a character was already over-the-top to begin with, but I think that EA could have at least picked someone that looks like she could hold her own in a fight. Gina Carano as Tanya and McCarthy as the Russian would have made more sense. On the bright side, EA also announced that Kelly Hu will be in the game as well, but in the video down below it looks like she isn't a soldier at all. That's a little disappointing, as chicks in military garb are hot! Oh, and JK Simmons, the guy who played JJ in Spiderman, as well as George Takei, Mr. Sulu himself, have been tapped to play the US president and the Empire boss respectively. The addition of these two as leaders all but guarantees cheese in the cut-scenes. With the cut-scenes shaping up to be on par with past efforts (cheesewise), all that remains is to see whether or not the game itself holds up. I hope it does, as I can't wait to grief people in multi-player battles.


The new cast members.


She would have made a better Tanya!

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At least Microsoft knows that their d-pads are an abomination

"The new limited edition green wireless controller offers enhancements to d-pad functionality, which will add to the experience of playing games where the d-pad is the primary control mechanism"

According to GamesIndustry, Microsoft confirmed the existence of a new Xbox 360 controller with an improved d-pad. IGN says that "the d-pad has been re-engineered to offer more instant control, with an eight way input taking place of the previous four." Unfortunately, the pad is only slated for release in Europe, Asia, and Latin America at this time. Apparently, its release will coincide with the arrival of Pro Evolution Soccer.

At long last, the people at Microsoft have finally gotten their heads out of their collective asses and fixed one of the few complaints gamers have about the 360's controller. Feedback from both consumers and developers alike (there's no way the developers at Capcom haven't complained about the d-pad by now) have finally gotten through to them. And it's about fucking time. The only problem I have now is that since the field has been evened out between the Xbox 360 and PS3 as far as control goes, I now have to figure out which versions of future downloadable games are better values. Choosing is now much harder that it used to be.

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Harmonix frowns upon musician exclusivity. You should too!

In an interview with IGN, Harmonix' Eric Brosious claimed that "we prefer not to sign exclusive deals with artists because while it seems like the competitive 'business' thing to do, in the long run it's really not good for anyone. We think we should be working to get more music out to more people."

This is great news if what he said about not following in Activision's footsteps is true. Band exclusivity is just plain bad for the consumer. People should be able to play their favorite songs in their favorite games. And it's upsetting that Activision will continue to churn out games like GH: Aerosmith and people will continue to buy them in droves. There are so many great songs out there that won't get heard simply because of these exclusivity deals. Thankfully, Activision is only going for the bigger bands right now so at least their stuff will most likely have been heard by most people already. Hopefully, by the time this well is dried up and Activision starts to target 2nd-tier bands, gamers will have caught on to the fact that they're being robbed.

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Because having instruments for three separate games is ridiculous

The director of public relations over at SCEA had a few choice words about how Sony was able to avert a war on your living room space -

"For the past several months, we have been working closely with Neversoft and Activision, Harmonix and Konami to ensure that PlayStation 3 guitars and drum sets will all feature a basic level of gameplay compatibility.

For the most part, this means that the titles with musical peripherals will work with the other's software. A few specific examples include: Guitar Hero: World Tour's guitars and drums will work with Rock Band 2 and Konami's Rock Revolution software.

And yes, you guessed it, Rock Band 2's guitar and drum set will work with Guitar Hero: World Tour and with Rock Revolution.

Conversely, Rock Revolution's drum set will work with both Guitar Hero: World Tour and Rock Band 2.

In addition, Guitar Hero: World Tour and Rock Band 2 will both support the SingStar microphones.

We're still working hard to ensure compatibility between the Guitar Hero and Rock Band titles currently on the market, and we hope to have an announcement on that shortly."

I've held back on buying Guitar Hero and Rock Band specifically because I disliked the idea of having all those instruments for each of the games lying around. Now, thanks to Sony's intervention, all I have to do now is buy the peripherals that present the better overall package and just get the games separately. This also guarantees that if Konami decides to release Guitar Freaks compilations over in Japan, I could easily import their games without hassle (since whichever instruments I buy will work).

Oh - Microsoft also made an official announcement in response to Sony's announcement saying that cross-compatibility will also be present in their system, so Xbox 360 owners need not feel left out.

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Will cheating in the Fable II Pub Games make you start off as evil in the real game?

Apparently, there's a "glitch" in Fable II Pub Games that allows you to amass cash quickly and easily. You can find out how to take advantage of this exploit here.

I'm not really that interested Fable 2, but I thought that AJ from The Exploding Barrel Podcast had a cool theory which involved Peter Molyneux including the glitch on purpose. If his theory is correct, then those who used the glitch will automatically start off as evil when they play the full game. Makes perfect sense to me. Too bad that it's too good to be true.

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If you didn't already know, Bioshock is coming out for the PS3

The game is set to be released on the 21st of October in the US and the 24th everywhere else. It will come with this and that and bla bla bla. Ok, so it'll have a few improvements over the 360 version. But that doesn't mean that last year's 360 release is any less awesome or any less award winning than it was before this announcement. Both versions are awesome. Case closed!

What I really want to know is what scores this version of the game will get upon its release. Last week we talked about how the PC version of Gears got trampled despite the fact that it offers more of everything. Will the PS3 version share the same fate despite being arguably superior?

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Chrono Trigger is coming too!

"Originally released in 1995 on the Super NES and subsequently shipping more than 2.5 million copies worldwide, CHRONO TRIGGER is critically acclaimed as one of the greatest video games of all time. Praise continued to be showered upon the title at last month's E3 2008 Media and Business Summit, with CHRONO TRIGGER receiving accolades including 'Best RPG' and 'Best DS Game.'"

No controversy here. Well, I wouldn't have called it the "Best DS Game" of E3. That honor should have gone to a certain 2D platformer. But that doesn't matter right now. What matters is that you remember to keep the week of the 25th of November open.

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Duke Nukem 3D XBLA is ready to kick ass and chew bubble gum

George Broussard of 3D Realms told Shacknews that Duke Nukem 3D for XBLA passed certification and will be released soon. No official price has been given, but it will supposedly be "about what you'd expect."

Unless this game gets a high-res makeover, I don't see it holding up very well. Out of all the Doom clones that I played back in the day, this is my least favorite. Sure, the one-liners are cool (though I'd rather just watch Army of Darkness and They Live) and being able to flush the toilet and give strippers cash was funny the first few times, but after all is said and done, it was just another FPS with not much to add to the genre.

What we really need is a Deathmatch only version of Quake 1. It has nice and simple weapons, good maps, and hours of enjoyment just waiting to be unleashed on a new generation of gamers. Or how about Rise of the Triad? More people need to experience shroom mode, dog mode, and the Excalibat.

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Has Knights of the Old Republic met its match?

I know that the Star Wars franchise hasn't seen too many good games in recent years, but that hasn't deterred me from looking forward to The Force Unleashed. How often do you get to wield a sword, throw people around, and shoot lightning from your hands? Thankfully, the demo comes out this week so I don't have to spend $60 on a gamble. It'd be cruel if the game is really good though. Waiting for something that you know is good is a bitch.

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Does Mad Catz + the Street Fighter license = satisfied customer?

According to Kotaku, Mad Catz has secured the rights to make controllers and accessories for Street Fighter IV. If Capcom cared about quality at all, it would have given the license to Hori. Unfortunately, as history has proven time and time again, the company really doesn't care who they whore their licenses out to. I've tried several accessories that have been licensed by Capcom in the past and pretty much all of them were horrible (yeah, I'm a sucker like that). Until enough people vouch for the quality of Mad Catz' Street Fighter controllers, your best bet is to get one of those Soul Calibur Hori sticks while they're still around. The DOA 4 ones disappeared overnight when the Street Fighter II came out on XBLA, and I expect the same thing to happen when SFIV gets released on home systems in February.

I will add that if you really want to believe in Mad Catz, there may be a sliver of hope. If you look into the comments section of Kotaku's article, someone named MarkMan who claims to be an employee of Mad Catz is asserting that "a lot of research and experience is going into these products." He seems to be well known in the Shoryuken forums, so maybe, just maybe, he knows what he's talking about. But I've already heard things like this before. Fortunately, I'm all set as far as joysticks go. I just fear for everyone else.


The Release List

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Not too many releases again this week.


Too Human (Xbox 360)

This is another game that I'd been looking forward to for a little while, mostly because I've been told that those who loved Phantasy Star Online will most likely love this game as well. I'm a little skeptical, more so because of the reviews that it's been getting. Then again, I've been noticing that a lot of the games that I've been enjoying recently have been getting less-than-stellar reviews. I think that I'll wait for a few more customer reviews to show up before making a decision on it.

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Galaga Legions (XBLA)

It's Galaga with the Pacman CE treatment. I'm expecting good things from this.

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Mega Man (Wii VC)

I don't think that too many people consider this to be their favorite Mega Man game. That honor is usually bestowed upon Mega Man 2 and Mega Man 3. It's rumored that MM 2 will be released soon (likely before MM 9 comes out), so you might want to wait and save your money for that. Or, do what I did and get the Mega Man remake for the PSP. You should be able to find it in the impulse-buy section of Best Buy for only $15 right now. They had 5 of them when I passed by the other day. I'm sure that there's a stack of them in the one in your town as well.

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Inazuma Eleven (DS Import)

This is a soccer game that got some pretty high Famitsu scores. It could be good.


To Be Continued...

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Alright. That's all I have for this week.

Now, I'm being attacked by an alien and all I have to defend myself is a gun that shoots bubbles. If I can find a way out of this situation, I'll be back next week.