Hi everybody! And welcome back to VGQH. While I’m sure no one actually missed me, I took last week off to hunt antelope. Which, I’m happy to announce, was a success. Seems all of that time I’ve spent behind a virtual sniper scope has finally paid off. I also enjoyed spending time with family, seeing Adam Warrock and MegaRan perform Wednesday night (where I finally met Dagobot in person), and running around Capitol Reef National Park. But now it’s time to get back to some serious gaming… and passing on all the latest bits of news. Because I’ve been out of it for a while, some of this will probably be old hat to some readers. But I’ll try to skim over most of the early stuff.
First up: Despite not having a confirmed release date, Just Add Water has announced that the HD remake of Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath has been delayed. The developer has apparently reached the bug fixing part of the beta phase and decided they need more time. This doesn’t bode well for the game. Having to delay a game just to work out bugs you found in beta is not a good sign. That’s sort of like adding $10million more to a film’s effects budget a month before it releases.
Felicia Day has a new role in Mark of the Assassin, the new story DLC for Dragon Age II. The add-on, scheduled for October 11th, has Hawke and company seeking a precious jewel, the Heart of Many. Naturally, the jewel is protected by traps, Orlesian soldiers, and monsters. But why am I excited about this? It’s not the story. It’s Felicia Day, one of the sexiest nerds around and best known for The Guild and Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. You may also recognize her from other Whedon projects (Buffy and Dollhouse), myriad TV roles, and the voice of Veronica in Fallout: New Vegas. Yummy. Loves me a ginger….
I’m quite certain this is old news for many of you, but it’s about Batman Arkham City, which means it’s too cool to pass up. Episode 421 of GTTV has a great feature on the game, highlighting new gadgets (including some stolen from Mr. Freeze) and the reveal of a new villain, Deadshot. Apparently Batman will be investigating murder scenes to learn who’s next on Deadshot’s kill list. Sounds like side missions, but still sounds good. And his look fits the game perfectly.
Just to mix it up, let’s take a break from the awesome news and switch to “huh?!?” In a bizarre piece of self-serving marketing Saints’ Row: The Third will have developer Tomonubu Itagaki as a preset character in the creation screen. What? Why? Sure the guys got a signature look, with his leather jacket and “sweet bro” shades, but does anyone want to swing around a purple dildo sword while dressed as a Japanese hipster? This is typical THQ inside marketing. Itagaki’s Valhalla Studios is currently creating Devil’s Third for the publisher. Frankly, this game looked too ridiculous to play anyway, so I don’t really care, but I do have to wonder if THQ has any self-respect left.
Have you been playing Deus Ex: Human Revolution and loving virtually every minute of it? If you’ve loved the stealth based action but hate the clunky boss battles, you’re like everyone else who’s played it. So why do the boss fights break up the flow so badly? And why are they so unintuitive? It turns out that Eidos Montreal actually outsourced the boss fights to GRIP Entertainment. This is a common practice in game development. Often the game’s scope is so massive that certain elements, like multiplayer or puzzle levels, get made by a different developer. Ultimately, Eidos chose to include the levels so the blame is squarely on their shoulders. In GRIP’s defense, the boss battles aren’t necessarily inherently flawed, they just break up the flow and rhythm of the rest of the game. It’s clearly too late now, but maybe Eidos should consider handling such key elements personally on their next game.
Personally, I’m not a huge fan of FPS or competitive online multiplayer, so Battlefield 3 (October 25th) doesn’t hold much appeal. But I also know I’m in the minority on that topic, so let’s check out the details on the game’s multiplayer modes:
- Team Deathmatch: Two teams, 12 players each, tight maps, no vehicles
- Squad Deathmatch: Four squads of four, needs a good Engineer to maintain your Infantry Fighting Vehicle
- Rush and Squad Rush: Similar to Bad Company‘s mode, M-COM stations can only be armed/disarmed – not destroyed, infinite defenders, tickets for attackers
- Conquest: Frantic but strategic, capture and hold flags
- Nine maps, five modes each. All levels can be played without vehicles in “Infantry Only” mode. “Hardcore” mode also available in each map/mode.
Well, as long as we’re in FPS mode, might as well mention something about Call of Duty: Elite while I’m at it. The beta was opened last week. The full version should be launching on November 8th, with Modern Warfare 3. If you want in on the beta, better sign up here.
Also worth noting in the battle of the FPS between Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3 is that the console fight has been extended. Activision has a strong relationship with Microsoft that has led to an exclusive window on CoD DLC. DICE and Sony have now teamed up to create their own exclusivity deal, bringing all Battlefield 3 content to the PS3 a week before XBox 360.
Have you missed out on the Assassin’s Creed series so far? Are you some sort of mental defect? You’ve got some catching up to do. If you just missed the first game, and picked up the series as Ezio, Ubisoft is giving you a chance to get up to speed. Exclusively to PS3, if you buy Assassin’s Creed Revelations when it releases on November 15th, you’ll get a free, downloadable copy of the first game. That first game can be a little clunky and repetitive, but it set a strong foundation for what is now one of my favorite franchises. And it will definitely be a good idea to refresh yourself on Altair’s story. The finale of Ezio’s tale will have you controlling his ancestor at times as he searches for Altair’s lost secrets.
Yet another game with strong potential but a weak beginning, Homefront is looking to become a franchise as well. THQ has contracted Crytek to develop the sequel. The first game had solid concepts that just didn’t get off the ground due to some weak elements in an already crowded FPS market. Crytek has a good track record with Crysis though. This may be the Assassin’s Creed of FPS, turning good concepts into a great game with the second outing. You’ll have to wait to find out though, it’s current listed for the 2014 fiscal year. [BTW, Crytek’s first Crysis game will be hitting your console download service on or around October 4th.]
If there’s one thing Capcom is good at, it’s wringing every last cent out of a property. Beginning with the 924 different versions of Street Fighter II, the company has learned how to gain revenue while adding very little of value. This became quite clear with the announcement of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Apparently a $60 version of the game wasn’t enough, they now have to make a bigger version for $40. How’s that middle finger look to you, early adopters? Adding insult to injury though, is the fact that this still isn’t the “Ultimate” version. Sometime after release, the new iteration will be getting a costume add-on pack, as well as DLC that includes a whole new mode. Seriously, why even consider buying this one? Just wait three months for the Ultimate Extra Special Awesomized addition that has this DLC and the extra characters, Spider-Ham and Arthur’s Shorts.
If you still don’t own a PS3 by now, you probably aren’t getting one. Which makes the new bundle Sony has created for Uncharted 3 seem pretty silly. It’s a 320GB PS3, in a pretty Nathan Drake box, with one controller and a copy of the game. It also includes one free month of PlayStation Plus. But why? It’s not a special deal, it doesn’t look any different. And if you haven’t played the first two Uncharted games (which are awesome), why would you suddenly decide on a new system for the third one? Maybe Sony’s just marketing to recent YLOD sufferers, giving them a reason to come back to the console after their first one has failed?
Bethesda is pretty good at getting all-star voice casts, and it appears Skyrim‘s 60,000 lines of dialogue amongst 70 actors will be no exception. Joan Allen (some Bourne films, Pleasantville), Max von Sydow (Bond’s Blofeld, Ghostbusters II‘s Vigo, and Emperor Ming), Christopher Plummer (General Chang, The Undiscovered Country), Lynda Carter (Wonder Woman), and Michael Hogan (Battlestar Galactica, Mass Effect 2, Fallout: New Vegas) are just some of the names my fellow nerds will love to see.
I don’t want to ignore one of the biggest pieces of news from the last week, but CitizenBot already has a thorough story on the changes at Netflix/Qwikster, including the addition of video games to their mailing service. If you haven’t left them behind already, this could be a good move for you. Frankly, most games are probably still a better value at Redbox. And if you really play a lot, you should already have Gamefly. At this point, I’m sticking with GameFly. They’re knowledgeable about, and dedicated to, games. Netflix/Qwikster’s missteps lately don’t give me enough hope to transfer my gaming dollar.
I know this has been an extra long edition of VGQH, so I’ll skip the final editorial and leave you with this ” target=”_blank”>video. What is Sony up to? Seriously, please head over to “> YouTube and give me your theory on what this is advertising. We’ve got two more editions of VGQH to discuss it before their reveal date of October 5th.