The Full Circle: 360 News Report 09.19.08

Posted by Joe Roche on 09.19.2008

It's your weekly dose of The Full Circle now with even more Peter Moore talk, sales numbers from Japan, Castle Crashers success, the official North American release date for Mirror's Edge, the Fracture demo, and a huge mea culpa from yours truly. It's all inside plus we'll round out the week with a lengthy discussion of the new TNA Impact video game and whether or not it's worth your money.



Does anyone remember the last time we had two consecutive weeks of on time edition of The Full Circle? Yeah I didn't think so. I've officially gone two weeks without taking the most important test of my life, getting married, or going on a honeymoon so needless to say it's been a relatively slow week in my neck of the woods. I actually rented TNA Impact this week (more on that later) so that's taken up a good chunk of my time. Hopefully I'll be getting my hands on Brothers in Arms: Hells Highway this coming week for review purposes because I need something to change my Madden prison. Alright enough rambling, it's Friday morning which means it's time for me to take you al around The Full Circle.

Mea Culpa



I don't make it a habit to admit my own mistakes. I comb through hundreds of news items each week and try to find the ones that interest me, and in turn the most people. Unfortunately, every so often I stumble across a bit of information that is just flat out wrong and then I relay some of that information – which makes me, and in turn this site look bad. Last week I wrote about the Fracture demo that will be hitting the Xbox Live Marketplace, and said the game was being internally developed by Lucas Arts. I also mentioned that there were some rumors of Lucas Arts possibly reigning in their internal development.

As it turns out I was uncorrect in writing that bit of information and I was set on the straight and narrow by Lucas Arts themselves. If you've checked the report from last Friday since about mid afternoon last Friday you don't know what the mistakes were but they were there. The game is in fact being developed by Day 1 Studios and Lucas Arts assures me that they are fully committed to internal development. I felt so bad about screwing up that information that I might just go find a copy of The Force Unleashed to make it up to them.

Fracture Demo



In addition to my mea culpa for the mistake I made last week concerning Fracture I've also taken this entire ordeal a step further. On Thursday the demo that caused me much consternation last week was released on the XBLM and I have taken it upon myself to give the game the old college try. I will have a full preview of the game posted pretty soon but I suggest you take some time to give the 772 MB download a try -- it's basically a chance to try the weapons of Fracture, and that is not a bad thing.

Infinity Ward Back for COD6



With Call of Duty: World at War still on the horizon there is already talk of the next game in the series making the rounds. When Treyarch was announced as the team behind COD5 there was some serious speculation. Not because they're not a competent team, but mainly because COD4 was so good that people couldn't understand why the Infinity Ward team wouldn't be brought back for the sequel. Well all of you can rest easy because Infinity Ward has been confirmed as the team behind Call of Duty 5 due for release in 2009.

Strange Sales Week in Japan



Nobody is going to argue that Microsoft has had a difficult time making in roads in Japan with console sales. Some people might even say that until recently Microsoft had just abandoned the idea of ever selling their console successfully in Japan, and it'd be tough to argue against that point. Until the sales numbers were released for the week of September 8th – 14th when the Xbox 360 topped the sales charts in Japan.

You read that correctly – the Xbox 360 sold more units then every other console during the last week of sales in Japan with a total of 28,681 units sold. This number is up from 843 units sold in the previous week, and is most likely due in large part to the console price slash that was put into effect on September 11th in Japan. In comparative terms the Wii sold 27,057 units during the same period, and the Playstation 3 moved 8,050 units.

These numbers might be a bit of a fluke thanks in large part to the drop in price, however when you combine this news with the release of Tales of Vesperia, and the concerted effort by Microsoft to release more JRPG's in the near future, we might be seeing Microsoft making a real move towards part of the international market which had previously been shut off to them.

Success for Castle Crashers



I have admittedly not played Castle Crashers as of today. I understand that to some that seems like blasphemy when you consider all of the horrible Xbox Live Arcade games that I have played and reviewed for this site. I absolutely wanted to give the game a whirl but it came out during a busy time for me and I just missed it. I might have been alone though because impressively Castle Crashers has by passed the 250,000 download mark and impressive feat to be sure. I think that it's a very good sign that Castle Crashers (with its 1200 MS point price mark) was able to make such a positive impression on people when you take into account the hefty price tag and the scope of the project. On the flip side I understand that some people are still waiting for a patch to be released for the game, and Lead Artist Dan Paladin has assured everyone that the problem is being worked on, and while there is no release date set they are trying to solve the glitch in a timely manner.

Peter Moore Throwdown



By now this is pretty old news but Peter Moore did an interview with Guardians Game Blog in which he was very honest, maybe brutally so when it comes to Rare. Most people may have already forgotten but Microsoft purchased Rare for $377 million following the release of some huge N64 titles (Goldeneye, Banja-Kazooie, Perfect Dark). At the time the deal looked good. There is no denying that those three titles were huge hits and it only makes sense that if they could be hits once, they could be hits again. Unfortunately things haven't worked out (aside from Viva Pinata) and Peter Moore claims it's because the gaming industry "passed Rare by." What he means by that is simple, the things that Rare did well for Nintendo during the N64 era just aren't as marketable today. It's tough to argue with Moore on that although Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise has been well received and I know people are anxious for Banjo – Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts.

Moore does throw some other interesting tidbits out there including the fact that the hard drive on the original Xbox is what caused Microsoft to slink away from the past generation and into the Xbox 360 "prematurely." According to Moore it was costing Microsoft $70 for the hard drive on a console they were selling for $199. The problem came because they couldn't drop the price for the console and still make money, so instead they just dropped the entire console and moved on to the 360 that we all know and love. Well – most of us know and love, Moore also says that there was vocal minority within Microsoft that didn't want to get into the console race. I merely bring this up because I'm glad that minority didn't win out, otherwise I'd have nothing to do this weekend, so thanks Microsoft.

Guitar Hero: Hendrix

<

File this one under skeptical at best. According to Slash (of Guns N' Roses fame) the next artist specific Guitar Hero game to follow in the footsteps of Aerosmith, and the coming soon Metallica will focus on Jimi Hendrix. This all came out during an interview with that bastion of video game knowledge, Rolling Stone magazine when Slash was talking about his role in Guitar Hero III and how he was excited about the Aerosmith edition of the game, the Metallica version and "they're doing a Hendrix one, which is great."

We already know that Hendrix will have his likeness included with Guitar Hero: World Tour and we also know that some songs will appear in the newest incarnation of the game so that might be what Slash is talking about. I'd like to believe that there is going to be a Hendrix specific Guitar Hero game, but we've all seen Behind the Music and sometimes I'm not sure Slash even knows he's Slash, let alone the future release details of an unannounced Activision title.

Free Burnout Paradise DLC



As I am writing this column people everywhere are rejoicing with the ability to use bikes in Burnout: Paradise. That's right folks after months of anticipating Sept. 18, 2008 marked the day that Burnout finally brought bikes into the fold with some FREE DLC. Now there isn't much of a news item here because I'm not one of the hundreds of thousands of people who love the Burnout series, but I am mentioning this because I felt it was my duty to relay the message to anyone who somehow missed this event. If you're a Burnout lover pop in your disc for the free downloadable content that will add motorcycles to the mayhem.

Mirror's Edge Release Date



Are you a fan of running and jumping with a shaky first person camera? If so then I've got great news for you – Mirror's Edge has a release date. Keep your calendars clear because November 11th in North America if you own a PS3 or Xbox 360 you'll be able to get your hands on the innovative new game from DICE and EA. I'll admit that on November 11th there is no chance that I'll be playing Mirror's Edge because of a little something I like to call – Gears of War 2, however the game has me interested and I know it'll be on my Christmas list for Santa. Oh and if you're wondering PC gaming fans your release date has been placed as "Winter 2008" which I believe extends until about June of 2009 so don't hold your breath.

THE HOT BUTTON

I don't think it's far off to say that a large portion of the audience here at 411Mania comes by way of the Wrestling section. I don't hold any grudge for that fact, hell that's how I found my way here after all; it's just one of those things that us writers from the other sections have to come to terms with. I bring this relationship between 411Mania and Wrestling because it relates to what I wanted to talk about this week – namely TNA Impact the video game.

I should preface this with a disclaimer – I have not been tasked with writing a review of the game for this site. I mention that merely to establish that this won't be a formal review, if you want something like that trust me we've got them coming in waves pretty soon from some very good writers. However, this week I've had some time on my hands so I rented a copy of the game to give it a test drive, and frankly I had so much to say about it that I felt obligated to use it as my hot button issue for the week. In the interest of brevity I will talk about the Story Mode only (although there are numerous other problems with the game). While I could talk at length about my thoughts on Midway's wrestling title I will resist the urge so that those tasked with actually having to review the game don't have to run up against my practically incoherent ramblings.

As most interested fans probably already know the Story Mode in TNA Impact is a bit of a controversial topic. The only other major wrestling title available on the market has been the Smackdown vs Raw franchise put out by the WWE. In those games the Story mode allows you take control of your favorite WWE talent (well most of the talent is represented) on the Road to Wrestlemania. In TNA Impact there is no Road to Bound for Glory game play option. Instead of being one of the 25 TNA superstars in the game (a horribly small number for a company with so many wrestlers), you are tasked with taking control of Suicide as he tries to rise back up the ranks of TNA.

Here is where the entire game hits a brick wall head on. The story of Suicide is that he was once a super-duper-star in TNA. He was given a TNA World Title shot, but that didn't sit well with everyone. In the booklet for the game the story claims that he was attacked after the show by two thugs in a parking lot and left for dead in a Mexican hospital. That story is convoluted and ridiculous, until you actually play the game and realize that the two guys who beat him up are L.A.X (Homicide and Hernandez). So you're told that you ignore their advice to throw the title match and you win the belt (because that is how professional wrestling works), and in retaliation for your crimes members of the roster beat you up, break every bone in your body and then leave you for dead in a Mexican hospital.

Excuse me while I take a detour here for a moment – this game goes to great lengths to show you TNA as it exists in Orlando, Florida at the Impact Zone. While I am admittedly only 50% through the game (I started playing last night) I am confident in saying that there won't be any TNA venue's in California. Do you know why I'm confident in that? TNA doesn't run shows in California, especially shows where the TNA World Title would change hands. Thus we are led to believe that somehow LAX jump the TNA World Champion in the parking lot, beat him to a bloody pulp, break every bone in his body and then somehow manage to get his lifeless, broken body from Orlando to Tijuana, Mexico without anyone raising an eyebrow? I understand that complaining about the story behind the story mode in a wrestling game is ridiculous (Smackdown vs Raw two years ago had a story where Candice Michelle turned you into a woman with a magic wand), but if a FPS had a story this convoluted people would be throwing the game out the window.

Aside from how stupid the premise of the game is, don't you have to stop and wonder why LAX was chosen as the team to break every bone in Suicide's body? For the TNA fans out there can you tell me definitively how long LAX has been a face team? I'm fairly certain that it's been about a year since they turned face and thus become completely irrelevant, but I wonder why they were chosen as the culprits of this attack. I mean if you're going to use this stupid storyline tactic then shouldn't Team 3D have been the guys who are responsible in the name of continuity?

Ok I've been distracted. The game does bring something good to the table – namely it looks great. The character models are polished and authentic looking, the mannerisms are pretty accurate and the fighting system flows together without many glitches so that the in ring action looks realistic. However, those positives don't cover up the fact that you start with a set of default moves and must unlock additional moves, and most of the characters. What this means is that for the majority of the game all of your matches will look exactly the same, with you doing the same moves in repetition. Also for whatever reason every character feels the same, so every match blends into a strange brew of boredom after a couple hours.

I've heard people complain about unlocking characters, but that doesn't bother me too much because it gives me a reason to keep plugging along with this game. On the other hand the fact that for whatever reason there are only a handful of match types does drag things to a grinding halt as you try to play for a long period of time and you realize everything is the same match against the same wrestler (basically). With all of the other problems in tow there is also this little nugget – every match is No DQ, No Count out. I understand that this might be done to spice things up but here's the catch…the TNA World Title has changed hands on a DQ, and yet in the TNA video game there is no way for you to be disqualified from a match. I'm not kidding I fought AJ Styles and Tomko this morning and the entire match was just Tomko swinging a chair in the middle of the ring. I guess the DQ is good enough for Russo to book a title change but not good enough to be included in the video game representation of the promotion.

Which brings me to my final point – the chapter that I'm at in the Story Mode has led me to a match with LAX (yes the same people who broke every bone in my body). The best part of the cut scene exchange (which all sound ridiculous because everyone has deep crazy voices) was when Homicide brings up "Lockdown" coming up and that is where our match will take place. Now I haven't played the match, but the six sides of steel is NOT an available match type in this game. You read that right – the match type which is so important to TNA that they book an entire PPV where every match takes place inside the cage WAS NOT IMPORTANT ENOUGH TO BE IN THIS GAME. Yet they mention Lockdown in the dialogue. To me this one point shows the greatest problem that this game has, and it's the same problem TNA as a promotion has they're trying to be everything and wind up coming off as incomplete.

This wound up being way longer then I wanted it to be so I apologize to those of you who stuck around. I actually think Midway has a nice base for a good game here but that's not good enough to spend sixty bucks on in my opinion.

Punching Out

Achievement Unlocked by Rod Oracheski. This week Rod breaks down the different types of gamers and what type of gamerscore they should expect to get with each game. He also takes a look at TNA Impact and has a similar reaction to the one I had.

Coming Attractions by Drew Robbins. Tough to argue with Drew that Rock Band 2 was the big release last week. I do have a problem with him not giving credit to Microsoft for getting the early release jump on everyone else.

The 10th Hour by Derek Robbins. This week Derek is counting down the Top 10 Rhythm Games and talks about games that I can't even pronounce.

The Checkpoint by John Curry. John takes a look at the song list for Guitar Hero: World Tour and I mean song by song.

The PC Centric Extravaganza by Chris Evans. I find it difficult to get excited for PC games because I have a piece of crap computer but the idea of a game called World of Goo makes me giggle.

The Hall of Shame by Vincent Chiucchi. Vincent brings up one of my favorite video game phenomena this week – the game show video game. Why would anyone buy "Deal or No Deal: The Video Game." You realize that if you take the money out of the equation you're just saying numbers for no reason right?

Working Title by Jordan Williams. I never understood the ending of Dead Rising, it felt like the developers just got bored making the game and ended it prematurely.

The Select & Start News by Vincent Chiucchi. Vincent talks about the DRM problems with Spore which should highlight the biggest reason why PC gaming has no chance in the video game marketplace.

Beyond the Report by Derek Robbins. I am obligated to say something negative about this column but I do agree with what Derek had to say about the possibility of Take 2 losing Sam and Dan Houser.