Some video-hype-dates

Two major gaming updates for the immediate future:
Halo Wars, Halo's induction into the Real-time Strategy world is coming out Tuesday, March 3rd. While I'm not a fan of the Halo series, I am a fan of RTS games (being born and raised on Starcraft and all) and am interested to see what Wars does for the genre, especially with Starcraft 2 hot on its tail.

In other gaming-related news, "Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li" comes out... now. I don't think it's possible to top the original Street Fighter movie, particularly with a focus on the series' non-main character (ok, she's one of the fan favorites but we all know Ryu is the star of the show).

Both forms of entertainment are approved for teenage audiences, with violence driving the rating past child-safe viewing!

Wii-hab

Follow trends in video gaming relevant to the real world they said!

I was recently able to talk to Bruce Battles about using Wii Fit in the rehabilitation process. The Amplifier has an article about WKU and Battles's work here.

Battles says that while the Wii Fit (and similar virtual exercise programs) are no substitute for the nitty-gritty rehab work done at centers around the country, virtual programs are a great supplement to the rehabilitation process. And he would know, he and his son used the "Wii-hab" method to help overcome his son's right-arm paralysis after a traffic accident.

"It makes doing those exercises fun, so you do more without realizing what you're doing," says Battles.

Battles believes that more research needs to be done to prove that the method is effective in maintaining fitness in the infirm or injured, which is where research from Dr. Scott Owens comes into play.

While Owens could not divulge any information on the current progress of his study in an email interview, he did assure me results should be available around May.

FritoLay, a-ok. RapeLay? Not so much.

That is the worst title I have ever written. I'm so sorry.

Anyway, Japanese dating sim "RapeLay," a game that promotes raping women, has come under some fire for its availability in the U.S!
According to the PC World article, New York City Councilwoman Christine Quinn is asking for U.S. retailers to ban sales of the game, which is not available in mainstream game retailers, such as GameStop.

I know back-to-back entries on basically the same thing are kind of tedious (and hey, I could even go so far as to merge them into one!), but games are fantasy. And the game is strictly targeted to adults. A kid would have to go quite out of his or her way to get his or her hands on this game. And guess what? Even if they did, it's still a game.

Can you really quantify whether rape is worse than murder? Yet, despite this, some of the most brutal murder, dismemberment and evisceration is available for viewing in video games aimed at a responsible, first-amendment protected adult audience. Unless Christine Quinn has a room filled with love pillows and has unlocked all of the possible endings for "Let's Meow Meow," she is not qualified to tell someone who has what is acceptable for him or her to play. It's a private safe area to do unspeakable things in. I would be drawn and quartered by PETA if I tried to capture animals in plastic balls to make them battle one another for sport and money.

Coincidentally, SomethingAwful totally panned RapeLay. Maybe if she was basing the ban on game quality she'd have an argument.

Can't stop your kid from Manhunting or doing some Grand Theft Auto

Want to stop your kids from buying violent video games? A California appeals court ruled that it's against the first and fourteenth amendments to prohibit the sales of violent video games to minors.

Although research has shown that watching violent acts leads to violent tendencies (don't ask me to look up the study, it's a basic thing in developmental psychology. I promise), which has been the backbone argument against letting kids play Mortal Kombat and GTA, it also does clearly inhibit letting youths make their own choices.

Yeah, that's really callous in one sense- let Johnny shoot his eye out to learn how not to play with shooty toys, but let's be real for a second: kids play war, kids play Cowboys and Indians (maybe. or maybe they play Space Marines and Aliens or something now), kids have pretty vivid imaginations (or at least I did, maybe kids don't have those anymore). Giving kids violent video games, or video games in general, allows kids to act out in a safe fantasy environment. Blocking kids from a safe fantasy environment to learn about violence (or merely see it acted out, as I don't learn much from watching Dante of Devil May Cry fame get impaled by demonic scythes and then punch a guy's head off) forces children to learn through real world experience only. Additionally, it's not that hard for parents to establish a safe environment for a child. They will learn about these things one way or another, be it through video games, television, newspapers, movies, other children, school, or a drive-by shooting on the block. The safety of the home and the educated gaze of a parent should (emphasis on should) be the best learning environment for a child. Learning fantasy from real? Just as important. Video games allow this.

But yeah, video games are ruining America or something. Whatever.

...I'm a regular Nintendo hype machine.

I was under the impression GameStop didn't take preorders on hardware, as was the case with the past two major video game hardware releases in the storm surrounding the Wii and Playstation 3 two years ago. Well, the DSi (the new Nintendo portable DS hardware that emulates many features of the iPhone) is available for preorder at GameStop for a $25 deposit. For those unaware, much of GameStop revenue (and job structure) is based around preorders, with benefits and security going to those who can get the most money for games before they come out.

I'm not sure what the demand will be for the DSi at this point, as technophiles will already be inundated with the mostly superior gadgetry of the iPhone and iPod Touch for their "must have the latest" needs. Unless you're in it for the DS games themselves, other apps do what the DSi does and better (unless you find a 20 gig SD card stolen from the future and the camera is on par with most low-par SLRs) and, if you're in it for the games, don't you already have a DS?

What's also disappointing is the lack of Gameboy Advance compatibility, essentially cutting off a quarter of the functionality of the DS (and a very relevant portion of Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum) to make room for SmartPhone and WiiWare apps. This also, of course, assumes that the WiFi internet browser capability isn't a lie and that I can draw sex organs in PictoChat and watch YouTube videos while I catch a Pikachu. I'm totally buying the DSi because I'm not hip enough to own an iPhone, but I'd like to see how well the unit sells given the current state of the economy when most kids who will be bawling for one already have a DS and don't really need another.

Also, in the event I'm not making this clear, the DSi ISN'T a phone, unlike that foreign-exclusive cell-phone expansion on the Gameboy Color for Pokemon Crystal.

DSi finally has a release date: April 5. Preorder it, wait in line outside of your local electronics retailer, or whatever.

More Platinum news.

Nintendo has released the official site for Pokemon Platinum, which wouldn't be spectacular except for the fact that it hints at events for the Rotom-form Key, Regigigas evevnt that triggers the other Regis in Sinnoh, introduces the expanded gameplay available through Battle Frontier and introduces many more gameplay additions.

This is a fairly uncommon mass-reveal (particularly for those of us who are spoiled about the game's contents) on the part of Nintendo, but also increases hype for the game, as previously Nintendo events were few and far between in the US and far removed from their Japanese equivalents.

March 22nd, a Sunday, is when you can get your hands on this. The Regigigas event happens prior to Platinum's release at an unannounced time.
Thanks to Serebii for the update!

Street Fighting 4 release or How I learned to stop worrying and embrace 2009 sequels.

So tonight I got to play Street Fighter 4 at NYU's Gaming Club, which is a good thing because I don't have my PS-Triple in my dorm (leaving me with a Ryu statue to stare at my game box and soundtrack and wonder what I'm doing with my life). Hope you guys like game reviews, because you're in for a treat.

Our last venture into the Street Fighting vidya-game world was Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike. This, of course, excluding the prettied-up remakes of Street Fighter 2 available for various virtual consoles, the cross-company games like Capcom vs. SNK and the Japanese exclusive (but hopefully not ;_;) Tatsunoko vs. Capcom and fan made games like Mugen. SF3 has routinely been labeled as a tourney-player-oriented game due to its technicalities like the Parry System and character tiering (if this is confusing to you, don't worry, you're not alone. if it isn't, gb2posting YouTube combo videos). It also doesn't help that the largest release for the game was the home of tourney boot-camping, the world of arcades and other coin-op havens and that the various iterations of SF3 were limited to Street Fighter Collection status.
SF4 has been proclaimed as a return to Street Fighter's roots, more SF2 oriented and probably many other things.

The first thing you should know about Street Fighter 4 is that it is not like Street Fighter 3. The parry system, as I said, is gone. EX-moves are still in abundance, but there's no more parrying. Ken is not the beast he used to be. I feel like his Shoryuken doesn't have the same PAUNCH his SF3 attack did. Also the Tatsumakisempukyaku (Hurricane Kick AKA Spinny Kick) feels so much slower (but, imo, gets more hits/damage in) and has really low priority. I'm not the technical guy to go to on these things, it's just my experience between the two games talking as a fairly casual player. I figure this will get the very technical things out of the way so I can talk about it like a game rather than an algorithm.

Because the game I was playing was freshly cracked at a club meeting, you can imagine that the character list was limited to your starters. And yes, only about 5/8 of your roster is unlocked at the beginning. For those of you who love Cammy and, my personal favorite, Sakura, get ready for some Super Smash Brothers Brawl syndrome, because you have some unlocking and replaying to do, potentially turning you into "that guy" by the time everyone else is available.
Of the starting roster, you have classics in the form of Zangief, Blanka, Dhalsim, Chun-Li, Guile, M.Bison, E.Honda, Vega, Balrog, Sagat, Ken and Ryu. They are joined by newcomers Abel, an amnesiac mercenary out to discover his past, Rufus, an overweight self-made martial artist from America who dreams of defeating Ken, El Fuerte, a Mexican wrestler who strives to become a renown chef, and Crimson Viper, some broad with a cell-phone and immense cleavage.

Most of the returning characters play like themselves, almost stereotypically so. Ryu is just... omni-balanced between his defense and offense, while Dhalsim is as slow as ever and M.Bison's Psycho Crusher (or whatever that move where he dashes through the screen in a streak of purple is called) completely ruins lives. Oh yeah, and people don't like when you scream, "TIGER!" after every one of Sagat's special moves. Just a heads up.

The newcomers, however, are a whole new story. I only had hands-on time with C.Viper and El Fuerte (essentially pigeonholing me as a man who is very interested in zany Mexican wrestlers and breasts), but did get to watch some screen time with Abel and Rufus.
If you've looked in the SF4 guide on C.Viper to see that she's hard to control, don't listen to it. Her attack list is not very technical and most controls like Sagat in reverse, except for her "ground pound" (not real name) which uses the Shoryuken/Tiger Uppercut control.
El Fuerte is a guy you want to practice with. He essentially only has two special moves, one of which chains into 6 different spin-off moves. The problem is that the frames... nevermind, talking technical again. You can get hit out of the first part of the move and not with much difficulty. Maybe he's a character who you want to use normal attacks first and foremost with. I was tossed into the thick of it with some more-experienced players, so I wouldn't know.
Abel looks like a chore because it seems like many of his moves are grappels as opposed to the normal fare. No one was able to really get much time in with Rufus because he's a huge fat guy, which is off-putting in a game with classic characters and new guys who look like they belong in a battle with the propriatary members.

Obviously this isn't the be-all, end-all of SF4, but there wasn't one person who was completely dominating in the night, which is probably a good sign in terms of playability both as a tourney game and as a fun thing to do with friends. It doesn't have the same childish appeal of SSBB, but I never had Mario fighting Pikachu when I was a kid.

One final note: the SF4 guide essentially demands that players strive for tournament-player status (or at least take their game to the competitive rather than casual level). While I'm all for making the best of your ability to do whatever, be it shoe tying, dog raising or video game playing, setting the common barrier for fighting games at "tourneyguy" is NOT a good direction for video gaming in general. It generally turns off new or less experienced players who are just in it to have fun at home and occasionally have massive fight-fests with their friends. I've been on both sides of the "tourneyguy" fence, and I can honestly say I enjoy Brawling with my best friend instead of trying not to die against PC Chris and BlurrLee.

Video Game manufacturer Midway files for bankruptcy

Manufacturer of Mortal Kombat, Ms. Pac-man and Spy Hunter Midway filed for bankruptcy on the 12th, citing a recent change in leadership as the cause of its financial woes.
The company had changed hands from Sumner Redstone, Head of Viacom/CBS Corp, to a private investor who picked up the game maker for $100,000 and some $70 million in debt.
Midway's major contributions of the video game world, aside from the aforementioned titles, include a huge library of arcade titles, a huge quantity of which saw success in both arcades and consoles.

According to the AP, a judge has okayed the bankruptcy filing and has agreed to let the company pay vendors and employees to continue operating.

While times are obviously difficult for most people, video games sit in that generally presumed to be unassailable entertainment niche. While other companies, such as Take-Two Interactive, have faced financial losses, no company as large and well known as Midway have filed for bankruptcy. Hopefully this doesn't become a trend.

Want your kids to be awesome at life? Give them vidya.

According to a European Study, "video games can stimulate learning of facts and skills such as strategic thinking, creativity, cooperation and innovative thinking, which are important skills in the information society."

The Guardian reported on the study, which said video games had practical applications as both entertainment and should be looked to for the future of education. Maybe in a few years, your kids will take Wii Fit instead of Gym and Math Blaster instead of Algebra.

Comic Con: The Saturday Chronicles

Not much more to be said about Saturday that wasn't said earlier (I mean, I got the "news" out of the way). A lot more people dressed up for Saturday, I got to take more pictures of people and things.
I had a brief conversation with one of the Ohio Ghostbusters about the coming game from Atari! The Wii release is essentially a third person shooter that takes place immediately after the end of Ghostbusters 2, back in the strange world of the late 80's/early 90's. Ghosts did done got out and it's up to you to capture them!... As a Ghostbuster!
The game seems kind of kiddy (no jokes about the Wii here, promise), but I guess that's what made the Ghostbusters and its ensuing cartoon series so over-the-top-awesome. Original voices are used. Some new ghosts are had. You do zany Wii controls to fire proton packs and catch ghosts. The demo was pretty straightforward (strafe around a library, suck up the spooks, repeat), but, as always, that's the demo. Saturday also boasted a Slimer ice sculpture. Yeah.
And just so we're clear, the Rockstar booth was kicking. I never did get to talk with anyone important, but the spectacle (and demo) were enough, really. And the free shirt in "not basement dweller x-tra huge" was a plus. But hey, here are pictures. A van, lots of DS stations, lights, killer sound system... the works.
Playmates offered a working Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles "Turtles in Time" arcade box at their booth. In case you've failed in your mission to live a fulfilling life, the game is a classic of the 90's in the realm of planar 2D beat-em-ups, up there with The Simpsons and X-Men Arcade.
The Video Game Cosplayers gathered upstairs. Since there's not a lot to say about that, here are some highlight pictures (Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts can't get in the club):






...I'm gone.

Get your Pokemon Diamond and Pearl carts ready

Final summary of NYCC is coming up, I have a lot of pictures to upload before I make such posts.
Before that, though, correction: Konami DID have a booth there, it just wasn't as huge and epic as its booth last year. My apologies to Konami and anyone whose feelings were hurt by my exclusion of them from my coverage. My opinion: it's hard to top back-to-back Metal Gear Solid 4 - Metal Gear Online 2 two years in a row.

This week, as of yesterday, starts the Toys R Us Shaymin giveaway event. Shaymin is one of the new event-only Legendaries from Pokemon Diamond/Pearl, much like Mew, Celebi and Jirachi in previous generations (this generation, we're gifted with two base-100 event Legends, the second of which is Manaphy). The Shaymin has the additional benefit of activating the Gracedia event in Florma Town in Pokemon Platinum (available 3/22, zomg) that transforms your Shaymin into its Sky Form(e), where its stats, typing and learnable moves change. If that's all jargon to you, lrn2playPkmn,bro.

The event ends 2/14 (nothing like catching an event-only Pokemon for your sweetie on Valentine's Day) and requires no purchase. Just be sure to activate Mystery Gift on your Pokemon cart by talking to the guy on the third floor of the Jublife TV building and inputting the phrase "EVERYONE HAPPY" and "WI-FI Connection." If you have 5+driving minutes and love Pokemon, you could do worse with your time.

Brief Day 2 recap!

When I mentioned in my previous post that the show had sold out today, it was with good reason. Getting around was a chore as the floor was filled to capacity throughout the day.
The DC Universe Online demo was playable. It was noted during the day that one of the Speedster characters (any super-being with the power of super speed ala Flash or Quicksilver) started clipping through the floor of the world, causing him to run around upside down under the street of the city. I'm sure this isn't a common occurrence and, I mean, it's only a demo. Just something humorous of note.
The video game costumes were not common sites to the main show floor, which was confusing until I visited the third floor stage, where the "World's Largest Video Game Character Gathering" had been held and many remnants of the record-breaking attempt were still hanging out, listening to a nerd-comedian's set and taking pictures of one another (lucky me, I missed the main show, which reportedly gummed up any hope of entering or exiting the third floor).
Nothing new in addition to yesterday's video game spectacle, though I will upload more pictures and information from booths I was able to hit (unfortunately, no new hands-on demoing occurred).

Tomorrow is the last and final day. I'll try to get more hands-on demos to report back with along with pictures and information passed on from Day 2.

Fears for RE:5 and the anti-cipation.

In my last post I made my off the cuff remark about my fears for the coming year of video gaming, partially summed up by my wanting to respond to the moviebob video in my first entry (a lot more detail to come in part 2 of that).
After Comic Con day 1, I had some hands-on time and got to watch other people demo what looks to be a healthy selection and quality of games. My real issue has been with the games I've been waiting for.
This video is probably one of the general summaries of what infuriates me about the recent mire of video gaming (and shut up, I know there have been some awesome SHOOTAN titles as of late, I could care less). Up to about 3 minutes in, you have almost a copy-paste of RE4 with some new "does nothing" partner, your enemies do the "sprint at you and then lurch closer when they're in pouncing range" and at that three minute mark... the voice acting... "PAHTNAH!" ffffffffff. Seriously? I know RE isn't a series backboned by dialog, but at least try not me make some... well, I don't know where your partner's from, but it isn't the deep south. Let's not emulate that.
In case you're missing it, it's rehashing the same old stuff that gaming has grown past. I'm not asking for the game to crush you, especially not in the demo, but there's a sense of terror that existed in the RE franchise before RE4, and a lot of it had to do with how the enemies around you acted. Prince of Persia had so much going for its first reiteration with Sands of Time, the story, just everything... it may be my (as it is for a number of others) favorite game of all time. The new game doesn't copy that. You're playing Dante in a PoP game with less stylized combat and doing now more off-the-wall, over-the-top acrobatics. In Sands of Time, you had that "I WANT TO DO THAT!" feel happening. You could do that. You could run along a wall and jump off using momentum. Cool. Now you're flying around, wall-running upside down and other malarky... it goes from fantastic to just fantasy.

Ok, those are two totally different gripes, a third of which can be said for Mirror's Edge. Needless to say, these gulches in in games people were supposed to be excited for, along with a list of titles I don't have anything to base expectations off of lead me to fear the impending implosion of popular gaming. Some of my fears have been hacked into, at least for 2009, thanks to Comic Con. But there's still a lot to be said about the current state of gaming.

...the end of the first day. NY Comic Con '09 - Day One

Set sail for image dumping.
NYCC (or Knee-Cuc, as the pros like it call it) has started off in full force and the one thing the exhibitor's floor, the largest room of the convention and feature attraction (aside from the IGN theater, filled with movie previews and premiers available at the con before anywhere else), has in spades are video game companies. And let me tell you, this year everyone's getting in on it.
Marvel is showing off it's hero-based RPG sequel, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2. Countering the massive offline RPG is DC's MMORPG, DC Universe Online. (yeah, my image of the product is far from the most interesting)

Atari, Sega, Ubisoft, Rockstar... most everyone is in show, MISCLICK: KONAMI WAS THERE, KIJIN IS A LOSER. At the company booths, playable demos are where it's at. I promise to get shots of it for tomorrow's update, but my favorite is the Atari booth, which offered a demo of its long delayed but highly anticipated Ghostbusters game. Hopefully I'll be proven right, but when I stopped by the booth, all sides were flanked with fully-garbed Ghostbusters, including an Egon Spengler who was being interviewed by TV cameras. I hope they based the game on the original Atari classic from the floppy-disk era of gaming. Oh the memories.
Rockstar's booth (also unphotographed in hopes that I can have a podcast interview available tomorrow or Sunday) featured their newest GTA iteration, Chinatown Wars. The only game I played hands on (I mean, I was offered a free t-shirt in a wearable size for my neigh-skeletal frame for trying it out from an attractive booth girl, how could I resist?), Chinatown Wars is a DS title that plays much like the original 2 over-the-top-view GTA games, with your touchpad functioning as your start menu, where stats, equipment, relationships and other game functions can be reviewed and monitored. Car controls are much less erratic than in GTA4, while your movement controls put you at a rather slow pace (though I likely didn't learn how to run during my demo, as who has time to read controls when there're civilians to beat up and police cars to steal?). In the short time I played, I had roughly the same fun I would playing a full-scale GTA game, only with the added struggle of squinting to see the cityscape details and "enemy" units (the DS screen is quite small to play an over-the-top view game). Hopefully more from game staff later.

As for game merch, Previews offered a slew of new video game toys and mini-statues, particularly one of my all-time favorites, Metal Gear Solid. After their previous line of mini-statues, including a good number of items available as covention promotional items, the "finished" series still has much blood for fanboys. At least for me, anyway.

Tomorrow, some highlights of comic-related going-ons, the Guiness Record-break attempt for "Largest Gathering of Video Game Characters" cosplay event (which I'm upset I'm unable to participate in), other cosplay shenanigans and stuff about movies if I can mosey on over to the IGN Theater.

Emergency Edit: Anyone following- NYCC sign ups are closed; if you don't already have a badge pre-registered for tomorrow or have one in-hand, you cannot purchase a badge on-site. Sorry dudes, 56k can't get in the club.

New York Comic Con: Beginning of the First Day

Today is Day 1 of NYCC. While I'll be reporting on the going-ons later today, here's a shot from last night's pre-show party over at Dave and Busters! It is action packed (not really)!

Iron Man at the App Store

So upon finishing my reading of this week's issue of Amazing Spiderman, I close the issue to find none other than Iron Man's red-and-gold mug painted across the back of comic. Yeah, nothing special, what with a movie, dvd release, action figure line and video games to the Marvel movie and RD Jr. career inflating box-office hit. Wait. That was all months ago.

I look down and see still shots from a new game. Graphics are a little light, so it's probably for a new DS or PSP title. I mean, it's a little slow, what with Iron Man on the run from the law in his own monthly and the movie being the fading summer memory it is. Then I start paying attention.

This: the words "Only on iPhone." The ad is puntuated by a review from "AppCraver," which doesn't tell me much from an actual video gamer perspective, so I looked to IGN as the first video game reviewer I could find in Google (I don't have an iPhone, so I can't be asked to review the game myself). From the 9/10 AppCraver review, the game plunged to a 6.5 (granted, a mediocre score rather than "bad" one) with the punchy line, "You don't actually control Iron Man; you just control his crosshairs as he flies in a along his set path." While it doesn't sound very super-heroic, it does sound reminiscent of 2-D sidescroller shooters in a more 3-D rendered environment, dressed up by whatever leftover movie budgeting they could find. Or Iron Man in Star Wars: Arcade.
That and the game is only $8 (which the reviewer laments). Compare this to the average $35 DS title punctuated by the additional functionality of the iPhone. Not to provide copious smoke-blowing for a platform I don't even own, but at $8, even if the game is a repetitive mire of mediocrity with Iron Man's repulsor-blasting mug taped over what would be a plane or one-man firing squad, it's only $8. Compare this to the aforementioned $35 (usually lower on less high-end releases; the DS title still costs more than double at $19.99 on GameStop's website). Even if the game's a dud, you didn't blow most of a $20 bill on it.

iPhone - new gaming platform living up to hype?

According to a comScore press release (thanks Kotaku), Apple's iPhone makes up 14% of all mobile phone game downloads.
The report showed an overall growth for the mobile phone as a gaming platform, but most interesting was the statistic that nearly 1/3 of iPhone users downloaded a game this past November, when the survey was taken.
Reports about the iPhone's gaming potential left early critics exclaiming the mobile phone as the future murderer of the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP, the industry's two major mobile gaming platforms. While the DS and PSP are far from feeling hurt by the mobile phone market, Nintendo seems to be taking its cues from the iPhone's tech.
The Nintendo DSi, the latest model in Nintendo's DS line of portable gaming systems, offers a downloadable Opera web browser, two cameras and an SD card slot (which replaces the Advance cartridge slot from all older models). Although Nintendo hasn't jumped the "every form of multimedia, but mobile and with its own game software" shark yet, clearly the DSi looks to capitolize on the recent trends in camera and web browsing on mobile phones as well as high demand for web books.

Nintendo has not set a release date for the DSi in North Amerca. It became available in Japan in November, 2008 and has already sold over 1 million units.