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Got to play a few hours of the beta last night… very fun, although, Op Metro leaves much to be desired.

First section is fine. Outdoors, flanking routes etc. Plays like Battlefield.

Second section takes place inside a subway. Plays like any choke-point corridor shooter filled with camp happy players.

If this is how “infantry only” maps play out in the full game, I wont be going anywhere near them. Or any other map that puts a large section of playable area indoors and forces you into corridors.

Will post up more impressions after I spend some more time with the beta over the weekend.

The Sims Social presentation made me want to puke in my mouth, then spit that out into a pint glass and swill it back down. That’s no exaggeration.

The staged conversation between the two morally bankrupt mid-20′s facebook tossers was bad enough… but to then see it acted out by Sims? Yet spoken as though it was real events?

That was some creepy stuff!

So I was always a huge fan of the original Tony Hawk series. I thought it lost it’s way in terms of map design somewhat by the third game, but the fourth made up for that. The THUG and Wasteland additions killed off any interest I had in the series for good.

TH1 & 2 were great games. Yes they were still arcade based and you were racking up million point scores with never ending runs, but they were enjoyable for gamers and skateboarders alike. Somewhere along the line, Neversoft felt what the series needed was more Bam Margera and Jackass related humour. What most players over the age of 12 felt the series needed was more of what actually made the game great. Skateboarding.

When challenges degraded into mimicking Bam Margera’s trademark idiocy splashed around like so much urine on a drunks shoe (to re-quote myself), many gamers were understandably turned off the series. I personally played the games because I skateboard in real life and I enjoy any extension to that hobby that I can get. Once the Jackass style gameplay was added and focused on, I walked away from Mr. Hawk, never to look back. His recent attempts to win gamers back by bundling the same old game with an expensive, unreliable, plastic gizmo have fallen on deaf ears. In fact, as I understand it, it has been so poorly received they have slammed the final nail in the franchises coffin, given up and geared the entire thing to appeal to the twelve and under age groups. I’m sure TH’s marketing will include some guff about trying to get the youngsters into the sport, and if it does then more power to him, but I think TH, Neversoft, and Activision know that they will never reach the lofty heights they once enjoyed and grew complacent upon.

Now it’s Black Box’s turn. Now is the age of Skate.

Read more…

As predicted, it didn’t take EA long to find a new way to gouge customers. They’ve tried several attempts at this project ten dollar BS and seem to have settled with the worst of a bad bunch of ideas.

In my opinion, a reasonable solution is how Battlefield Bad Company 2 was handled. All retail copies of the game came with a ‘VIP code’ that granted the owner free access to the first DLC pack. Any DLC since then, which has re-used assets on the disk, have also been free for ‘VIP’ players. Anyone buying used would have to fork out some extra cash to get access to the extra content. This at least seems half fair compared to the new system, which will see gamers buying used games forking over extra money to use the online features advertised on the back of the box.

Given that EA are one of the biggest game publishers around right now, I just don’t buy the claim they are losing money on used game sales. Not only that, but if their BS is to be believed, this is all for the benefit of the customers and to help fund upkeep of the servers.

Yes, but.. logically, the only strain on a server is caused by new retail players. Anyone who buys used is simply replacing a player that already existed and no longer uses the servers due to selling the game. Under this system, if the same game is sold and traded a couple of times, EA get paid multiple amounts towards the ‘upkeep of the servers’ yet they gain no additional players to justify it. I’m sorry but this just doesn’t wash.

If I sell my house, I don’t give a cut to the original builder because of work he did years ago – He was already paid for that work. If I were to sell a car, I wouldn’t give a cut to the manufacturer because they made it – They were already paid for the car when it was first bought.

BS, all of it.

I like to rent and ‘try-before-I-buy’ on some titles I’m unsure on. Under the new system, only the first in line to rent the game get to redeem any ‘VIP’ code included in the box which means anyone else renting that game will be restricted from the online features so that’s the end of that.

The worst of it is, if I know anything about gamers it’s that they’ll continue to buy even while being shafted. Example – the majority of the ‘Boycott MW2′ steam group were all tagged as playing MW2 on the day of release. Even though Activision makes games for Satan and his minions these days, gamers continue to support Kotick and his douchebaggery.

It’s simple logic that if EA can make this work, other publishers will start to pay attention. Ubisoft, Sega, and THQ already have plans to implement similar systems as I understand it… it wont be long before others fall in line with this if we don’t start voting with the contents of our wallets.

I just got access to the APB Beta!

Unfortunately I forgot to check my emails over the weekend so only received confirmation this morning which was too late to make the first test night over the weekend. Will set the client going later today so I don’t miss any more action. Had forgotten I signed up for this tbh, looks like a lot of fun.

Wont be able to say much due to the NDA but if/when it lifts I’ll post up my opinion on the game immediately.

In the meantime, if you are part of the Furious Fighters group… see you online soon!

After holding Farm on the Laguna Alta map for the majority of a conquest round, the opposition sent 6 players and 1 tank and captured the base. Thanks to a lucky respawn on a still standing squad member, I managed to get two RPG shots off on the tank…

…both missed by a mile, BUT, managed to take out the remaining two walls of the farm building causing it to collapse, killing the 6 opposition players in one glorious demolition kill!

Incredible game. More to follow soon.

Cant wait to get hold of this tomorrow…

Managed to stick to my guns and didn’t buy MW2. Judging by all the accounts of glitching, modding, and cheating I’ve read about lately I did the right thing.

In preparation for BC2 I started playing the first Bad Company game and was reminded just how great the Battlefield series has been. I bought it about a year ago preowned and only did the first couple of levels for some reason that I cant remember now.

Ahh, this one is good.

EA Canada senior producer Jason DeLong believes that pretty soon publishers will have to start thinking of new ways to deliver and charge for their content.

In a Game Informer article, Jason has this to say,

I think that we’re going to start to see – maybe not in the next year, but in the near future – games go down the route of smaller up-front experiences and lower prices at the beginning and then the ability to extend the game through episodic material or future feature material. I think that’s a direction we’re probably heading in.

Fair enough, Valve have shown how well episodic gaming can be done and several other companies are adopting this method of distribution already. Monkey Island, Sam & Max, Half Life 2 are just a small selection of games that have taken the episodic route with varying success.

What interests me is the following quote,

Games are getting more expensive, and times are tough, and it’s getting harder to purchase every game you want. So, how can we keep people playing and offer them more but not have to make them break the bank to do it? It’s going to be an interesting creative problem for us to solve

Now, call me cynical, but if this was coming from anyone but an EA employee, I’d be more willing to accept it at face value… But this is EA after all, and old habits die hard in my opinion. There is every chance I’m wrong, but if I were a betting man, I’d lay down some serious cash on the possibility of EA moving towards releasing stripped down versions of games with the option to add the bulk of normal content via DLC.

About 3 years ago there was a rumour that Sony planned to ship Gran Turismo without cars or tracks, but make them available via the PSN Store as paid DLC packs. Now imagine that but with a Madden release, or Tiger Woods. You can buy the game, but it only comes with one golfer and one PGA course on the disk. If you want more, the Live Marketplace is over there…

This is all speculation of course but I would not be at all surprised to see a tiered content/pricing structure appear from EA within the next 5 years. This could actually work pretty well if the prices are reasonable and gamers pay no more for a complete game via DLC packs than it would cost to buy the equivalent amount of content on a DVD. The sceptic in me however, is pretty sure that this will not be the case.

In conclusion, to paraphrase a classic quote, “beware of EA bearing gifts”