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In case you may not have noticed, games have slowly been moving towards being services rather than stand alone products. New releases, from the biggest blockbuster to the lowliest PSN of Xbox Live Arcade game, are now frowned upon if they don’t include some sort of internet-based shenanigans either through online multiplayer, or even just simple leaderboards to compare your scores with your mates.

World of Warcraft and Runescape are the most obvious examples of games that are services. In fact everything from Modern Warfare 2 to Shadox Complex has some sort of online service incorporated into them.

“Service is becoming everything,” underlined Valve’s Jason Holtman during his Montreal International Game Summit keynote. “It’s going to impact every line of business and every line as you think about your game.”

Of course Steam is the perfect example of games delivered as services. They boast 20 million users worldwide and a catalogue of 950 games, all of which are automatically updated when Steam is running on your PC.

These include titles like Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead, both of which have been constantly updated since they launched. Team Fortress 2 alone has seen 97 updates that include new content as well as patches and fixes, and all provided for free.

“The direct customer relationship means now that you shouldn’t think of your product as ‘finished’ — a single piece that goes out monolithically. You should think of your product or the game you’re making as an ongoing service to your customer,” Holtman adds.

Of course, the services that Steam provides to its customers are also provided in a lesser fashion across the major consoles with updates downloaded automatically when they are available.

LittleBigPlanet is another fine example of how a game has grown into a service, with the community now topping 1.3 million user-generated levels. Over the year since its release, Media Molecule has been just as busy keeping the game up-to-date and running smoothly as they were developing it having now patched it 25 times. Paul Holden, lead architect behind the game, believes in the the importance of good community support.

“We realised pretty quickly how important it is to ensure the quality of the releases and the patches,” he said in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz at MIGS. “It’s surprising that even fairly small changes that we’ve made have had large impacts on the community.”

Community maintenance is key to LittleBigPlanet’s continued success. Holden continues, “By releasing regular content we keep people interested. Once we release a big pack we can see a big uptake in the number of people playing. If you look at companies like Blizzard with StarCraft, or Bungie and Valve, they look after their communities by releasing regular content and updates, and in turn the community responds well to that kind of attention.”

He adds, “The next patch to go out is 1.21 which should have a whole bunch of new features that have been in the pipeline for some time. And then there’s more planned for well into next year. Sony’s been very keen for us to support the game ourselves. A lot of publishers are keen to move on once a game has been released and patched but Sony has been very keen to give us the resources we need to support the game in this way.”

In an industry still dominated by monolithic blockbuster titles and analysts claiming that marketing sells games more than quality does it is refreshing to see that there are some big names ready to stick their necks out and say that it’s the players and communities that games build that are important and that quality really does matter.

Amen to that.

Thanks to Gamasutra and GamesIndustry.biz.

Posted on November 18th, 2009 at 7:05pm by [email protected] (The Games Are Evil Family)
Filed Under: James Holtman, MIGS 2009, Montreal International Games Summit 2009, News, Paul-holden, features, left-4-dead, littlebigplanet, media-molecule, opinion, sony, steam, team-fortress-2, valve

Game: Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
Developer: Vicarious Visions
Genre: Hack ‘n’ Slash
Verdict: More of the same with an HD veneer.
Pros: Cool team combo moves. Now you can team up with you favorite villains as well.
Cons: Bland graphics and no real update to the gameplay other than the combos.
Acquired: Developer Provided

On the bare face of it, putting this many of Marvel’s best-known characters in to one game is a comic fan’s dream come true. Further sweetening the pot, this time around you can also mix and match your favorite heroes and villains into one ass-kicking team.

Fortunately for fans of the franchise, there is more to the game than this. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 follows the plot of one of Marvel’s most successful storyline to date, the Civil War, penned by a fellow Scotsman and Wanted author, Mark Millar. Civil War revolves around a great split in the superhero community caused by the introduction of the Superhuman Registration Act. This new law forces those with superhuman abilities to either register their talents with the government or face imprisonment.

The Act is brought into being after a disaster that centers around a group of young vigilantes, featured on a reality TV show. One of the vigilantes, known as Speedball, overcooks his powers, loses control and devastates the town of Stamford, Connecticut. The public outcry is enormous and the government swings into action with the Act. Believing that this is wrong, Captain America, Luke Cage, and a good few other heroes go underground, vowing to fight the Act and those who support it until it is repealed.

On the other side of the coin, Mr Fantastic has done some advanced calculations and believes that the Act is the only way to save the planet. Feeling vindicated with the findings, he and Iron Man join up with those that support the government, in order to hunt down Captain America and his allies. So begins another complicated comic book storyline involving a good few plot twists, before its inevitable resolution. Conversely to what you would think, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 is really far from complicated. For all its pretension to some kind of morality, this game is actually fairly simplistic and the moral choice really only comes down to choosing between which characters you want to have available for the whole game. Essentially this results in slight narrative variations, but the gameplay itself has changed very little since X-Men Legends surfaced on the previous generation of consoles.

You are given charge of a team of four superheroes and you have to use them to hack, slash, burn and smash your way through hordes of anonymous enemies, to gang up on some evil that threatens mankind. What has changed this time around is that you can combine two heroes’ powers together in various special moves, which does prove to be particularly devastating.There is also a point in the game where you must choose which team to side with. Depending on your choice of Captain America or Iron Man, this affects which heroes you can choose and even how many of your caped wonders will level up. Of course this is all given a next-gen graphical makeover, which means you can now see the scales of Captain America’s armor in the finest detail.

Being a huge Marvel fan, I wanted very much to love this game. Civil War proved to be a great read and provided great fodder for a video game. The developer, Vicarious Visions just have not done enough with the rich subject matter. Before I tell you why this game is such a disappointment, just let me say that there is still plenty to be excited about with Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2. The combination moves are really cool addition and the ability to play as villains as well as heroes is a nice addition to the series. Even Marvel supremo Stan Lee even makes a very welcome cameo! These are all just window-dressing though.

It seems like they have tried to hide the fact that the game’s core mechanics have not evolved, in any significant way, since X-Men Legends. Yes, there ar high-res graphics, but they lack the polish and true attention to detail that we expect from today’s top titles. Levels are quite sparsely laid out and there is some truly odd collision detection, with some piles of crates requiring a significant detour to circum-navigate. As good as the ‘innovations’ are, they feel like they’ve been pulled out of a hat, rather than carefully chosen and designed as important updates. The new combo moves and the addition of villains as playable characters are just tweaks, rather than bold new alterations to the series.

With the current crop of consoles having been around for a good while now, it would be reasonable to expect that the games would be more than just ports of good titles from the previous generation, with improved graphics. Sadly, this game proves otherwise. Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy playing with my favourite Marvel superheroes and the Civil War storyline is a cracker, but if you’re going to lay out your hard earned cash, you need something more. Simply put, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 doesn’t always go far enough to justify the outlay. Sorry Marvel, but this year the sane option, as far as comic book games go, is to join Batman in the asylum.

Posted on November 18th, 2009 at 5:21pm by [email protected] (The Games Are Evil Family)
Filed Under: Playstation 3, Reviews, Xbox 360, activision, featured, features, marvel, marvel-ultimate-alliance-2, vicarious-visions

Title: Fairytale Fights
Platform: XBox 360, PS3, PC
Publisher: Playlogic
Price: $59.99
Verdict: Fun with friends if you can get over the game play flaws.
Pros: Sliding around in blood is fun!
Cons: Nothing about the actual game play is satisfying.

Have you ever wondered what happened to those childhood heros we used to have growing up? You know, the ones who had wolves hunting them, step-mothers plotting to remove their hearts, people lying to them about their threads, or creepy guys selling them veggies that are WAY too expensive. Well, wonder no longer. Our worst fears (or most amusing imaginings) have come true! Fairytale Fights gives us the answer. They’ve fallen from the grace of fame, and it’s our job to get them back. Unfortunately, Playlogic’s delivery is left wanting. There are, however, some amusing inclusions into the mix. Let’s explore, shall we?

Fairytale Fights is rated M. It is definitely NOT something for children. Period. Not only would they, and most adults for that matter, have a very hard time controlling the characters, but were they able to do so, they may have nightmares about all the carnage they would witness. With that, let me introduce you to the main players. As you may have guessed, Little Red Riding Hood has become quite depressed. Granny has apparently found someone else to spend her time with, and poor Red has been discarded like last week’s newspaper. I haven’t decided whether we’re talking clinical depression, or bipolar disorder, but either way, Red isn’t in a good way and is looking to take it out on some poor unsuspecting sap. Snow White has lost her ever-loving mind. The comorbidity in this wayward princess is unreal; a psych student’s dream come true. Needless to say, she was my favorite character to play. Beanstalk Jack is a moron. Let’s face it, he got suckered into trading for “magic beans”. I mean, really? He hasn’t gotten any smarter here, but he apparently still gets lucky. All the more reason for him to be reckless? Perhaps. But even so, he’ll never compete with the Naked Emperor in that department. Talk about a sucker. He’s still trying to pretend that he sees those clothes he isn’t wearing. Chalk one up to narcissism for this bearded baron’s denial.  So now you know who you’re dealing with. Throughout the game, you’ll run into various other childhood favorites, most of which you’ll be beating to a bloody pulp in a frenzy of insanity. You’ve always wanted to hack Pinocchio into fire wood though, right?

On to game play, where all of my qualms about this game are. First, the controls.  I played the 360 version of the game, but I’m assuming the control configuration for the game are similar on, at least, the PS3. This is one of the games that seems that no matter how long you play, the controls never come naturally. I had to think about it every time I tried to drink a potion. Where most games will have buttons controlling fight related elements, this one has them spread from the right joystick to the left and right triggers, and back. There is no rhyme or reason to the layout. The only thing I liked about the controls, in fact, is something that would most likely irritate the hell out of any one of my other gaming friends. The only attack button is the right joystick. Moving it around in random ways will lead to different attacks, but there is no specific pattern that works better than any other. The only way to get more powerful attacks is to use your glory attack (when your attack meter is full), which is the right trigger. Being someone who has a hard time pulling off complicated attack sequences, I liked this.

While we’re talking about weapons, I’ll mention that there are something like 140 different weapons divided into 4 different categories. They’ve included everything, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the kitchen sink was one of them! Each weapon is rated in flowers (light), stars (light to medium) or skulls (heavy). When you pick up a weapon, it tells you the name of the weapon and it’s rating. Which is good, because it is VERY difficult to see what you’re picking up during game play. This becomes a problem when trying to decide whether to throw your current weapon to the wayside in exchange for this new mystery weapon. Notice that I said throw. Because you do throw the weapon, and unless you pay attention to where it went, you’re stuck with your new weapon regardless of whether its better or significantly worse. Another disheartening game play issue that drives me nearly as crazy as one of our heroines.

Continuing on with our game play discussion, we move to Taleville. Actually, this is where the game starts and where all of your in-game options reside. You can switch between characters here, controlling whoever you please at the end of each chapter, if you so desire. This is also where you can visit places like The Inn, The Taxidermist, The Sculptor, The Options Square, Weapon Smith, or The Bank; each controls either information about your stats, or the ability to change an option or two. Good luck finding what you’re looking for though. Taleville is a very busy place. While there are books placed outside each pit stop that give you information or control, determining which is which takes a bit of patience. No wonder there is an achievement for staying in Taleville for 15 minutes.

From The Inn, you can choose to play in arena or quest mode. Arena mode takes you to a menu that allows you to choose a background, and rules for your player-on-player mayhem. Quest mode takes you on the long and arduous journey back to fame. You can play either mode with your friends either locally, or online. This is perhaps the best part of the game. It doesn’t take much thought to play the game, so you can chat away with your buddies, or use the taunts provided to entertain yourselves. Watch out when you trash a bad guy in quest mode, though. The opposite side of the screen takes on a pop-up that shows the gruesome demise of your foe, much to the frustration of anyone else who’s view of their action was just covered. As entertaining as that is (when it isn’t me losing visibility), my favorite thing to do when playing with friends is to slide around in the blood that’s been shed. Slide around for 330 ft continuously, and you get an achievement; yeah, I got it. There are also achievements based on the amount of blood you cause to be spilled. This, to me, is highly amusing. It doesn’t, however, make up for the fact that it’s incredibly difficult to tell what part of the screen you can and cannot go to. Not everything that you see is explorable, and there is no way to know which is and which is not. It’s almost as if you are constantly walking on a ledge, unable to get any further back, but at risk of falling to your doom more often than not. Good thing we’re given limitless lives, I guess.

The audio only gets irritating when someone uses the same taunt entirely too often, and as there are only 4 emotes that can be performed, it’s going to happen. Otherwise, there is a decent mix of sounds and songs. Not that they’re any kind of robust, rich sound, but for the game concept, they work well. No complaints here.

The graphics seem to be a bit ironic in my opinion. They’re very colorful, and very cutesy, which I think is the point. Bubbly characters who are annihilating everything that does or doesn’t breathe, just works for me. I think the game would lose some of it’s satirical nature if it were drawn to match the darkness of the concept. However, I do have a friend who played the game with me had serious issues with the graphics. The opinion there was that if they were going for cutesy, they should have gone more anime style. This is a somewhat deranged cutesy, if you can imagine it. As someone who loves anime, though, I never suspect that the story will match the animation. SO I think it would be less ironic if it were drawn as such. At any rate, it’s very colorful and well done, all except for the depth issue, but I really think it’s only frustrating because of the limitations on gameplay. So, no complaints with the graphics for me either.

All in all, the game is funny: in theory. The artwork is amusing, as is the bloodshed. The controls and actual game play are not well executed, and make this a game one that I would suggest you don’t spend nearly $60 on. However, if you’re just looking for something to play with your buddies while having that weekly Saturday night kegger, this is your game. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you. Oh, and think of me when you’re sliding around in that crimson pool of gooey craziness.

Posted on November 16th, 2009 at 3:21pm by [email protected] (The Games Are Evil Family)
Filed Under: PC Gaming, Playstation 3, Review, Reviews, Xbox 360, featured, features, pc

Not taking into account last week, where Modern Warfare 2 had the biggest launch in entertainment history, this week has perhaps the most robust release lineup in recent memory. Good thing Modern Warfare 2 was so short… Three huge games are coming out this week, all of which are must buys. The New Super Mario Brothers Wii features classic Mario side scrolling action with up to four players. For those who prefer the more mature titles, Assassin’s Creed 2 brings stealth action in to Renaissance era Italy, on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Both are guaranteed to be great games, but they lose out this week to a horde of zombies.

Left 4 Dead 2 is the latest release from Valve and has potential to be their biggest. Pre-orders are four times that of the original installment and Executives within Valve expect this to be the fastest selling game in the company’s history. This prediction comes with good reason too. Left 4 Dead, which has only been around for a year, has already established a booming community of team based zombie killers. The sequel is set to contain more special zombies, more zombie killing tools and five more campaigns. Plus, don’t forget the horde full of DLC is also expected to follow this already bustling game.

Stopping an invading Russian army has its appeal, but nothing is like mowing down an oncoming horde of the mindless undead. It’s probably a safe bet to say that there are no cooperative games that will be quite as fun, or as intense, as Left 4 Dead 2. This is definitely a must buy this Holiday season.

Posted on November 16th, 2009 at 12:30pm by [email protected] (The Games Are Evil Family)
Filed Under: PC Gaming, RotW, Xbox 360, featured, features, left-4-dead-2, pc, release of the week, valve, zombies

Subject: The Yellow Mask
Real Name: Manin McCabe
Other Aliases: None
Place of Birth: Atlas Park
Marital Status: Single
Height: 5? 11″
Weight: 187 lbs

Known Powers: The Yellow Mask uses a sonic resonator to various effect. By humming through his resonator at a specific frequency, he can reduce the effects of gravity upon himself and achieve super speed. The Yellow Mask has also mastered the techniques to use his resonator to break down the defenses of an enemy with his sonics as well as create a protective force field for his allies. As far as offensive capabilities, The Yellow Mask carries a rifle which I believe to be a prototype of the rifle carried by Van Roy.

Case Log: The Yellow Mask is one of the soldiers for the 7th Egg Dynasty. The missions he is sent to achieve are more of general chaos in nature. He tends to do things to stir up trouble between the various villain groups in the Rogue Isles. The Yellow Mask is a disturbed young man.

Upon further research I discovered that he is indeed the son of the Crimson Scarf. Crimson Scarf was the hero that patrolled Galaxy City for years and vowed to clean up the Hollows one day. The hero community has never solved the mystery of his disappearance in 2006. This case is still open within Longbow.

Once I spoke to The Yellow Mask he was friendly enough to tell me many pieces of information. This is how I found out about his father. The Yellow Mask also told me his real name, which is Manin McCabe. Using his name, I was able to find out the history of this deviant. Manin is currently 20 years old and has a high school education. He was working a series of part time jobs before his father disappeared. When the Crimson Mask disappeared, his mother began dating a strange man. This individually wore yellow suits and hats all of the time and had a curious pet chimpanzee. This chimpanzee would get into all sorts of trouble which many found adorable. Manin took advantage of the chimp and manipulated it into stealing the his prototype assault rifle as well as the sonic resonator. The Yellow Mask was not born yet though.

Manin used these items in the brutal murder of his mother’s boyfriend. He stole the man’s yellow clothes and hats and was reborn as Manin The Yellow Mask. Manin kept the chimpanzee but had no idea what to do with it when he fled to thr Rogue Isles. The Good Egg found them lurking around Mercy Island and brought them into the 7th Egg Dynasty. Manin was convinced by the Good Egg, to let Muerto Diablo and Van Roy experiment on the chimp.

In reviewing Manin’s history I found that he has been troubled since he was a child and inflicted pain on small animals and classmates alike. It is my belief that he was acting out against the good his father was perfoming in the world. When the time comes I should have little trouble subduing this threat.

Posted on November 14th, 2009 at 12:53pm by [email protected] (The Games Are Evil Family)
Filed Under: PC Gaming, The Yellow Mask, city-of-heroes, city-of-villains, features, mac, pc