Did everyone have a wonderful Independence Day? No firework accidents that maimed your thumbs and now have you limited to playing bad Kinect titles? Good. I’m on a bit of a time crunch so let’s get straight to the news.
I’m haven’t been convinced moving the Call of Juarez franchise into the modern age with the The Cartel was the right idea. Now that they’re giving away an in-game “Zooming Automatic Pistol” with a preorder at Best Buy I’m really not convinced. Ig nore that lameness of that weapon concept in a “Western” gaming series for the moment. The fact that the game comes out in two weeks and they’re just now offering a preorder bonus like this tells me they aren’t getting the pre sales they wanted. So, if you were considering this for multiplayer, knowing story mode would suck, think again. You might be whistling to yourself in the game lobby.
Another game I’m a little shaky on is the SSX reboot. I think I just don’t understand what they’re trying to do. With the results from the first round of Facebook voting in, I get a little hope though. Kaori, Moby, and Psymon have all joined the roster. Kaori and Moby were two of my favorites. Elise and Mac are also confirmed for the team. If your favroite is still unannounced, don’t give up hope. Five more characters are still coming.
We reported back in May that Disney Interactive had laid off the majority of workers at Black Rock Studios (Split/Second, Pure) but would keep the remaining people on to work on their current project. Since then, the project still has not received a go ahead and Disney has decided to terminate the remaining 40 employees and close the studio’s doors. It’s sad to see any developer shuttered, regardless of whether I’ve played their games or not. Former employees have formed two new studios, Roundcube Entertainment and ShortRound Games, in the wake of the layoffs. So it’s possible we’ll see more good than bad happening as a result.
In other developer news, Media Molecule recently discussed their future plans, and it might surprise you. They’ve actually decided to shift their focus away from the Little Big Planet series that made them stars. There was plenty of brilliance behind that franchise, so we’ll now get to see if they’re one trick ponies, or if they’ve got the goods to move on and make more hits. My two cents? Kudos for taking a risk instead of milking the cash cow. I know you’re job is to make money. But sometimes you need to make brilliance and innovation too.
Recent leaks from the South Korean Games Rating Board (GRB) and the North American Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) have turned up an “M” rating (or South Korean equivalent) for a Crysis title on PS3 and 360. Considering the consoles already have Crysis 2, what could this be. Best guess for now is that the first game, which pushed the graphical capabilities of many PCs when it launched, is making its way to consoles. Makes sense.
If you’ve played either or both of the first Mass Effect games you have to be excited for the conclusion with the third game. There are unanswered questions and Bioware does promise to answer them. One of the most prominent is what do Quarians look like, specifically Tali’Zorah Vas (Neema) Normandy? According to Casey Hudson, Executive Producer, “A lot of people want to have her face revealed and obviously people are going to be pissed off either way. Like ‘I thought she was going to look beautiful!’ or ‘I thought she was going to be the most hideous thing ever!’ So we’ve had a lot of debate over Tali’s face, but that’s the one we kind of dread a lot. We’re always ‘Well, let’s talk about something else for a while!’ That’s something we’re going to have to decide.” I could see her go either way, hideous or glorious. I’d actually like to see it be something pretty plain, just to disappoint everyone equally. If it were me, I’d make her a psychoactive shapeshifter so she’d always look exactly like whoever is looking at her. That would be excellent for those who doinked her in the second game. My wife is always telling me to go fuck myself. With my plan, I’d always be able to that exactly that, even if it is vicariously through Shepard’s actions. Mass Effect 3 is scheduled for March 2012.
That’s all I’ve got for now. Not bad for a holiday weekend I guess. I’m heading home from Texas today and I’ve got to admit to having a much better time here than I’ve had in past visits. Maybe it’s because I’ve found out how much they like video games, not that I’ve played much other than my free Welcome Backs on PSP. But I have seen several highway billboards advertising Portal 2, which I haven’t seen in Utah. I’ve also noticed that at least one road appears to be named after a 12th Century assassin. Odd.
