Time Travel

So yes, once again there has been a large...LARGE gap since the last installment of new content here on Higher Tech. I'm only one man, what can I say? Oh right, I can say the most recent gap was due to my employment in Activision's QA department. True, even when we were doing 12 hour days 6 days a week, I did have time to write something here...I was just afraid to.

I tend to get excited and go off on tangents about related gaming topics and other theories and info whenever I write something; you may have noticed this. While accidentally letting slip some small secret about Tony Hawk: Shred (my first project) may have gone unnoticed, any kind of leak related to Call of Duty: Black Ops (my second project) would have quickly gotten me fired, if not sued. So I'm sorry to the 5 or 6 of you out there that read this, but you're simply not worth staring down the barrel of Activision's legal department, much less forfeiting my long fought for first step into the video game industry.

In any case, some form of regular content should be appearing here again soon. At least until my gig at Naughty Dog starts in March. That's right, Naughty Dog. Uncharted 3. Be jealous, it's OK.

In the meantime, feel free to get more regular updates from my Twitter feed. Though far less informative, you'll usually still find video game related stuff, and it's always nerdtastic. Occasionally funny too. Woo! Ah hell, just go...

Gettting my Game Face on.

At the suggestion of friends from The Game Cookery, where most Higher Tech articles can also be found, I've decided to begin chronicling my efforts to break into the video game industry. Of course, at present, I'm past the part where I swept my girlfriend off across the country to find more entry level positions in the land of the setting sun (California) and started making contacts you'll probably be wanting some prologue.

So, uummm...

Prologue

I love video games. I still believe the best Christmas present I ever received was a Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Before then I'd only ever played my friends' systems. That gray box with purple buttons was my induction. I played every game I could convince my mother to buy, and played them over and over. Yes, I'm somewhat ashamed to say I used a Game Genie sometimes, but I was a "newb" in the most literal possible sense.

As the years passed I grew to appreciate games for the unique artistic medium that they were. I found my greatest delights in uncovering some new way to approach the challenges presented rather than simply reaching the end and saving the princess/the world. I began to understand that video games were entirely unique in the realm of entertainment mediums. Unlike the passive experiences found in books or movies, games didn't tell you a story, they asked what your story was, or at least what version you liked best.

From the most basic, story-devoid, premise of Space Invaders which simply asks "Would you be able to survive an oncoming horde of aliens that move faster with each new wave?" to the most recent open-world game that simply asks "What would you do if...?" before trailing off into possibilities to numerous to be listed on the whole of the Internet, video games provide the opportunity for the play to take what story they're given and make it theirs.

The best works of art, movie, novel, painting or sculpture leave room for interpretation, the opportunity for the audience to take away a slightly different experience than the person next to them. These same works of art only improve with multiple viewings. But when was the last time you watched Citizen Kane and had an entirely different experience? Kane will always die, Rosebud will still be a sled, your (realistic) interpretation will always have very definite limits.

With a game, however, you can go back and see how the story were different if you were the bad guy, or if you had saved this person, or killed that one, or gone left instead of right, or managed to get the ice beam before the fire beam. Even the most linear game allows you to ask "What if I had been fighting 20 guys instead of 12 or what if those 12 guys had been MUCH better fighters?" and then opens the floor for you to play out that story. It's exhilarating to find something you haven't experienced before, some mechanic or application of it that you had never seen until that very moment. There are few things as rewarding.

Video games are not the story of what has happened, they are the story of what is happening. This is true whether the game is telling you a story or asking you to come up with your own. It was before I even fully understood this that I understood something far more important, I wanted to make video games.

Unfortunately I allowed myself to believe that a "career" in video games was childish and that, as a "genius" (but who believes IQ tests, really?) I needed to become a lawyer or a doctor or a CEO in order to be counted as successful. So off to college I went, a PS2 in one hand and a Pre-Med curriculum in the other.

As a grew to dislike the complete lack of stimulation medical science offered for my more creative desires I spent more time reading and writing about games, taking my Playstation, and Gamecube, apart talking about games with whoever would listen and, occasionally, even playing some. This led to a lot of skipped classes, but with my grades averaging somewhere around a B in most cases the professors left me alone.

My right brain would leave me alone however. Facing a future that would leave me unsatisfied and (Current Doctors, back me up on this) without a social life, I finally changed my major to Computer Science and decided to pursue a life of making video games.

This decision came too late, however, as my financial aid would not fund more than four years of college and I was in no position to afford a college education without that aid.

I was stuck.

But I wasn't beaten. I continued to do what I could with what I had. I kept up on all the latest trends and major game releases. I read about the new hardware and software being employed. I built, rebuilt, customized and repaired PC's in my small, western New York town to keep what up with what technical skills I had. I played everything I could, opting for standard editions over "special" or "limited" to ensure that I had the budget for a larger number of games. I hunted down classics I had missed out on to see what they had to teach me about design. I applied to every company I could think in an attempt to at least get feedback on what they were looking for. I bought Paid to Play and Break into the Game Industry and filled them with bookmarks on things I needed to memorize. Through all of this, I worked on my own design documents. Some of them never made it further than outline a basic mechanic I wanted to use someday, others blossomed into full game concepts, all of them engaged my mind in ways that nothing else ever could.

While doing all this I also worked a "real job" and saved up what money I could, no easy task with the *cough* crooked *cough* holders of my "private student loans" breathing down my neck. But I did it, I had saved up enough money that I could grab my girlfriend and move to the place most saturated with game studios, including some of my all-time favorites: California. If I couldn't get a degree then I would push my way into the industry by jamming my foot in the door labeled "Quality Assurance."

Once again, however, my timing was terrible. The video game industry was in bad shape, teams were being let go, entire studios were shut down, the Southern California market was over-saturated and studios were moving out. QA positions were nearly impossible to come by without previous experience. Again, I was stuck. But I was stuck in a better position.

Far from the middle-of-nowhere from whence I had come, the industry was all around me. I still encountered numerous people that had no idea what a "Game Designer" was, but for every 1 of them there was someone at a different stage of the same journey I was on. I was hopeful.

So, once again, I found myself working what jobs I can, including some "acting" as an extra for a less-than glamorous MTV show, while saving money to either buy myself an education in game design or programmers and artists confident in my ability to design something worthy of all their time and effort. I continued to read and write about everything in the world of video games. I continued to play every game that has something to teach me about the medium, or simply show me what its best can be. I continued to search for any and every opening or unpaid internship studios offer while claiming "Yes, I do want to spend my life working at this desk," in order to support the one thing I really do want to spend my life doing.

One day, however, I came across a little group called The game Cookery and, well that's the next part of the story so you'll just have to wait.

I'd call it a "MITten"...

According to a recent post on Joystiq, Massachussets Institute of Technology grad student Robert Wang and professor Jovan Popović have devised a system that makes Move, Natal and the Wii look look both imprecise and overpriced.

With a total equipment cost of around $30 (~$25 for a basic webcam and $1-$5 for the Lycra gloves) the setup could bring you that much closer to reenacting everyone's favorite scene from Minority Report. In fact, the original article even mentions that in the subtitle of the article. Apparently the nerds are taking over (author's note: w007!).

The core of this system is the software design...and lots of RAM. Rather than do real time translation of the hand position into a rendered image, the software simply checks the position against a database of hand positions and renders the corresponding image. While this simplifies things on the processor side considerably, the necessary database requires several hundred MB of space in RAM.

Although the RAM requirement isn't an issue for most desktops, it could be a problem for more portable devices. I raise this issue because I immediately thought of something after watching the following demonstration video:



Are you pondering what I'm pondering?



Heavy Rain. More specifically, the Added Reality Interface (ARI) used by FBI agent Norman Jayden.



See what I mean. Also, did anyone else notice a possible Massachusetts accent in Mr. Jayden's voice? Interesting indeed. On a related note, I call dibs on any patents that combine a webcam and LCD glasses into a single device. Especially if it's for the iPod/Phone. Dibs works on the internet, right?

Return of the Western: Red Dead Redemption

The promise of the western making a cinematic comeback following the strong showing that was 3:10 to Yuma may have fizzled out, but the long-dormant genre may find new life in video games. That is if Red Dead Redemption, and Rockstar games, have anything to say about it.

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Mustache in the Clouds. New Super Mario Galaxy 2 Impressions.

Looks like Joystiq and IGN have some new impressions (and in Joystiq's case: video) of Super Mario Galaxy 2. This time the demo each editor was shed some light on a new power, the Cloud Suit, and the game's co-op mechanics.

If you took a "pass" last time SMG2 was covered: Yoshi's back, he's just like you remember him from World and he has some cool new power-ups like balloon and pepper which make you float and dash (up walls), respectively. This time, however, we get to see one of Mario's new power-ups, the Cloud Suit (not quite).

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We Need More Giant Robot Games. Also: Yes Kojima, You Really Should Retire Snake.

First I'd like to say, if you already know exactly what giant robot game I'm going to talk about, congratulations on your acceptance into my personal "You're Cool" club.

Close your eyes and just think to yourself, "When was the last time a good giant robot game came out?" Depressing, isn't it? Considering the we're closing in on what would normally be the twilight of a console generation, having to look to the previous generation for any worthwhile entries into the genre leaves any gamer that grew up on Voltron,Transformers or Power Rangers quite blue.

The Armored Core series has been pretty downhill since the second game; and Chromehounds did not help From Software, who developed both series, to reclaim any credibility within the genre. Applying the Dynasty Warriors formula to the Gundam Universe also disappointed quite thoroughly. There have been a few other attempts this generation...but all of them failed to impress. Some hope still exists for Activision's Transformers:War For Cybertron, but I'm not going to hold my breath. Especially with the average pedigree of developer High Moon Studios. Fingers crossed though...

Sure, we occasionally get some decent giant robot action thrown into our other games. Lost Planet, FEAR 2, Red Faction: Guerrilla and Killzone 2 (you know, that one part). In the end though, a giant robot game is just not the same as a game with giant robots. Porting Virtual-On to LIVE Arcade doesn't count either.

So what happened? I don't believe there's anything noteworthy, if anything at all, on the horizon for some giant robot-on-robot, city-smashing, love. We came from Armored Core, MechAssault, Zone of the Enders, Steel Batallion (assuming you could afford it and find a place for the controller) to a complete vacuum. I'm not even picky! Give me the slow, plodding T-A-N-K-! style play of Mechassault or the fast-paced, anime-flavored combat of a Z.O.E. game and I'll be thrilled.

The technology currently on the table, or rather entertainment center, is particularly good at rendering metal armor, stones, and the accompanying lighting effects (according to Cliff "not Cliffy B" Bleszinski anyway). Hmm, good at rendering metal, stone, lighting ef-GIANT ROBOTS! You know how they say some formulas just scream out the answer? Like graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate screams...? Exactly. Well that's one of them.

Am I to believe that Activision, Transformers, and whatever re-skinned Armored Core From Software decides to poop out are all I have to choose from? What happened to all the people making these games? Will people abandon their WWII soldiers, modern day soldiers, and futuristic soldiers to shoot bad guys with a giant robot instead? I think they just might, especially if it's pretty.

Which brings me to Kojima. Leave Snake alone. you've said you were going to do it every game for nearly a decade, just do it. The story of Solid Snake has been as neatly tied up as once could expect from the trip through "WTF"-land that was the Metal Gear Solid series. The stealth genre is changing drastically to accommodate a market that, by and large, wants to shoot things, not hide from them. You're halfway there with letting another team take Metal Gear: Rising in another direction (assuming he stays "hands-off" as a producer). A huge "thank you" for that, by the way because, as I've mentioned twice before, I have to see how Raiden went from whiny wanna-be to kick-ass cybernetic ninja. Then, however, you cheated by creating the Naked Snake storyline to continue on with an almost identical character to Solid Snake acting out almost identical gameplay.

Just leave them all alone. You've go other series to work on. Give us another Zone of the Enders, because the world needs giant robot games. Kojima's name on a giant robot game could bring out quite the audience with the accolades MGS4 managed to capture. With one successful giant robot game comes others. With other giant robot games comes competition. With competition comes awesome giant robot games. And that's what we're working for here, folks.

Just let Snake die, he's old. Move on to some other series, or even give us a whole new one. Let the stealth genre settle down a little bit, not even Sam Fisher just sneaks around guys anymore. If technology evolves or you come up with an entirely new, truly revolutionary game mechanic feel free to do a reboot. In chronological order would be nice, since MGS3 managed to take place before MG, MG2, MGS, and MGS2. For the uninitiated, that means the 5th game (called the 3rd) in the series took place, chronologically, before the first game, which was made over 20 years ago. A modern take on the earliest games in the series (Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2) would be quite the moment for long-time fans too.

In the meantime, give us back our giant robot games. Oh, and Kojima-san? While we're talking about reboots and reviving franchises and what-not, remember Snatcher...?

The Box Art May be Bad But the Game Is Pretty Rad. God of War III Review.

Seriously, who was it that decided close-ups of characters' faces would make good box art this generation? GoW III is probably the worst example; it's not even his face, just one scowl-y eyeball! But I digress, on with the review.

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Peace Walker Sneaks Away from PSP Go

As further evidence to how poorly the PSP Go is doing, the newly announced Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker bundle will contain a PSP - 3000 rather than it's diminutive, and (inexplicably) more expensive, cousin: the PSP Go.

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Bungie Running New Marathon?

(click to Master-size)

According to IGN, themselves through superannuation, Bungie has filed a trademark for Marathon. For those that weren't Mac gamers in the '90's Marathon was the series that put Bungie on the map long before Halo or Xbox. In fact, you can find references to the classic series in Halo, if you're paying attention anyway.

With no further details on Marathon, it's unsure if Bungie is looking to revive the series, or simply keeping a hold on the name. Given the nature of the last story Bungie appeared here in, reviving the series could potentially be good for all kinds of people.

Low on PS3's? Not if Kratos has anything to say about it.

With IGN reporting this past Thursday (March 11th) that Sony was having trouble keeping up with production of Playstation 3, they have a new story today stating that production will be stepped up to coincide with the increase in demand they're hoping God of War III's release will produce.

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What's a four-letter word for Playstation Motion Controller?

(click to "move" to a larger image)

In something of a follow-up to Monday's story about the then-unnamed Playstation Motion Controller, GDC has finally brought a name to the peripheral: Playstation Move.

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Vanquish = Gears on (Japanese) Speed?

Well if this is the direction shooters are going to start taking, I may need to get my design molded into something playable real soon. (Come on Activision, where are those details? Help me out here.)

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Rate Your Vengeance! God of War III Reviews are in.

The game may not have dropped yet (although you can get some serious hands-on time if you happen to be in the San Francisco area) but the reviews are everywhere. God of War III can now be considered a hit amongst gaming critics.

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Some Cheers, Some Tears, Mostly Huh?'s

Those of you interested in the status of your favorite "is it ever actually coming out!?" game can check out the latest "Life Support" article over at IGN.

This lists the general status of several titles whose development status has remained amazingly questionable, for years in some cases. (Yes, Duke Nukem Forever is still on there, 13 years and counting!)

There is one interesting tidbit for readers of Higher Tech, Beyond Good and Evil 2 has had it's status bumped up to stable. However, no new details have emerged since HT last covered the game, so I'm not sure what caused the slight status promotion. But feel free to check everything out at the link above.

"Wand" Afterall?

While the Playstation Motion Controller has yet to receive an official name, it looks like the unnofficial "Arc" moniker may have just been thrown out.

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Adding Molecules to the Playstation

(click to feel even bigger love)

In a move reminiscent of their purchase of Naughty Dog in 2001, Sony Computer Entertainment has purchased LittleBigPlanet developer Media Molecule. Although it may seem kind of odd to purchase a company with only one title to it's credit, when that one title is as successful and beloved (by both players and developers) as LittleBigPlanet, purchasing early on is a pretty safe investment.

Reach for This New Trailer

There's a new trailer up at IGN for Bungie's latest (and supposedly last) entry in the Halo series, Halo: Reach.

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Blood-smeared Impressions, God of War 3.

(click for larger scowl)

In case you missed it this past Thursday, the God of War Demo was released on the Playstation Store. This is the same demo that was shown at least year's E3, but for the majority of us this was the first chance to play, so the level of asskickery contained within suffered no loss of awesomeness.

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Metroid: Other M. Hands-On with Joystiq and IGN

Once again I say that it must be nice to be a professional video game site, as both Joystiq and IGN got some hands-on time with forthcoming Wii title Metroid: Other M. Also nice: being a super-hot intergalactic bounty hunter with an insanely versatile suit of power armor.

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Xbox has the DVD blu's or: Lost (content) Planet 2.

Since the start of this console generation, Sony fans have touted the merits of Playstation 3's Blu-ray format while those loyal to Microsoft have insisted the extra storage capacity of Blu-ray is insubstantial. If this article from CVG is any indication, however, that argument may very well be lost for 360 fans everywhere.

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Bungie is developing for Playstation 3...maybe. Also, an interview with the team behind Halo:Reach

In a brief, but potentially important, article from our brothers across the pond at CVG, some new light may have been shed on Bungie's post-Microsoft plans.

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It's-a-me, Sequel! Hands-on with Super Mario Galaxy 2

(click for mushroom power-up effect)

While Wii games aren't exactly few and far between, those actually worth picking up (in the eyes of most gamers, anyway) are a little on the rare side. Fortunately, Nintendo is pretty much the strongest first party developer in the world, owning several franchises that are synonymous with video games. The biggest of these, and perhaps single-handedly responsible for rescuing the video game industry in 1986, is Super Mario. And it just so happens that those crazy Europeans over at CVG (and teh local yahoos at IGN) got some hands-on time with the plumber's latest title: Super Mario Galaxy 2.

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God of War 3 to install only ass-kickingness, not data

(click to Spartan-size)

While the ridiculous debate over whether the unreleased God of War 3 will surpass the current king of console graphics, Uncharted 2, rages on there is one thing that both games will have in common: a lack of mandatory hard drive install.

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New BioShock, same Tunnelvision

Well it seems that 2k managed to botch the widescreen in the PC version of BioShock 2. Hmm...this sounds familiar...


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And Behind Door #1? It's More RAM! (Applause)

Looks like the Playstation 3 is giving developers a gift: more RAM.
For those of you inexperienced in the world of modern console gaming, they actually have a lot more in common with PC's than you might think, as in: they have their own Operating Systems. Sony's PS3 had an OS guilty of more memory-hogging than any other OS around, eating up around 120MB of RAM for operation. Since the OS is always running in the background...


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Indie Game Developers: Stay Far, Far Away.

Looks like Activision is planning to change up their current game plan and try and create an entirely new IP in collaboration with one lucky independent game developer out there.

In an announcement at DICE, Activision CEO and (if the comment section from the above article is to be believed) focus of hatred for gamers everywhere, (perhaps second only to Jack Thompson) Bobby Kotick announced a competition for independent game developers everywhere with the prize being sponsorship in developing the company's title. What, exactly, is Acitivion's definition of "Sponsorship?" Well apparently it's slightly different from Kotick's. Kotick claimed the winner of the competition will be granted a prize of $500,000. Activision, on the other hand, sets the prize at $100,000. (You can find all the currently known details of the competition here) Hmmm, somewhat the opposite of how I would have imagined such a discrepancy going.

If you don't feel like using the included link to read Activision's PDF on the competition, here's everything included therein:

"Activision announces the 2010 Activision Independent Game Competition!

This summer, one developer will win funding to make their game development dreams a reality. The official entry form and eligibility requirements will be posted in a few weeks. In the meantime, this is what we'll be looking for in submissions:

• A two-page summary of your proposed game. Please include three to five bullet-point elements or goals that you feel define your project (i.e. 'open- world,' 'puzzle-based,' 'flying dragon combat'). Beyond that, you may structure these two pages as you see fit; creativity is encouraged.
• A video, no longer than five minutes, explaining and illustrating your game. Footage of your game in motion, character models, animatics -- show your project and its elements however you feel would be most compelling.
• The official entry form, which will be posted here soon
• A non-disclosure agreement, which will be posted here soon

So get ready to send us your ideas either on your own or on a team.

Check back for more information in early March, and good luck!"

So why should any indie developer reading this stay far far away? Two reasons:

1) Activision has become infamous for grinding out the creativity of game development in favor of turning it into a business. Mostly this means churning out yearly, if not semi-annual, "sequels" to established franchises which, in general, means minor updates as opposed to full sequels. Ever wonder why Infinity Ward only develops every other Call of Duty title now? Well now you know. This is something of a no-no to most "serious" gamers.

2) I've got a design document or two (one in particular) that I want to see turned into games because...well I think they're awesome. (surprise, surprise...) so I'd like to cut down on the competition as much as possible.

Kinda makes you wonder about the truth behind my reasoning for number 1, don't it?

Persona 3, only smaller...but actually bigger.

Ever heard of Persona? Apparently it's quite popular among JRPG fans. Well one of the latter entries in the series is making it's way to the PSP with a new remix. Notice I said "latter" entry, not the latest one, since the game we're dealing with here is the 2+ year old (released August 2007) Persona 3, not the 1+ year old (released December 2008) Persona 4.

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Scarf down some Fat Princess Updates.

Apparently there's still a lot of people playing Fat Princess. Since it always seems to take me awhile to find a game with more than 5 people in it, I'm not sure I entirely believe this claim. But then, the Playstation Blog would never exaggerate the popularity of one of their platform's exclusive titles, would they?

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Survive the Horror of Exaggeration in Demon's Souls

If you've heard of PS3 sleeper hit Demon's Souls, you've heard how hard it is. Well in the opinion of Bitmob writer Tony Capri, this is a problem.

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All Beyond Good & Evil fans: join me in saying "Hip-hip-huh?"

So apparently Beyond Good & Evil 2 is still in development, according to IGN and Ubisoft. This is stark contrast to comments made by Ubisoft president, Laurent Detoc, last July which gave the feeling BG&E2 had been put on indefinite hold or scrapped altogether.

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I agree with the choice but...

Although I've recently been stating that IGN's articles, and writing in general, seem to be getting progressively more immature, this video for overall game of the year (after the jump) completely reverses that opinion. And if you have to ask, yes that was sarcasm.

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Dark Void, Murky Combat.

click to biggerize

So the Dark Void demo is finally out and I have to say: I think they could have picked a better section of the game to show off.

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Get your hands on 2 More Heroes. I mean, No More Heroes 2 hands-on

Chances are, if you're a "core" gamer looking for something outside the casual titles the Wii is famous for, you've played No More Heroes. The good news for you is not only is the game getting a sequel, subtitled Desperate Struggle (How did you not already know that? Psh!) but IGN has gotten some hands-on time and even written about it! And now, i'm going to re-write what they wrote! W007, indeed, but try to contain yourself.

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Check out the Super new combatants of Street Fighter IV.

Anxious to see the fighting styles of the three new pugilistic superstars of the forthcoming Super Street Fighter IV? Well GameTrailers.com has you covered.

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Wii watch movies! (Are the Wii puns old yet?)

According to Engadget the Wii will be able to stream movies from Netflix sometime this spring.

This is a much bigger boon for Wii fans than it was when implemented into the PS3 or 360 as the Wii doesn't have a downloadable video library of its own. It will have limitations however. Since the Wii itself isn't capable of outputting resolutions higher than the relatively standard 480p HD movies will not be available. Also, just like the PS3, a disc will be required to stream movies. However, since the PS3 supposedly has a software update in the works to remove the need for a disc we can probably expect something similar from the Wii at some point down the road.

More evidence that Google will eventually rule the world through awesomeness.

You may be asking, "Willard, how can I make my blog as awesome as yours by posting pictures without getting sued by somebody?"
Well, you can't. You can't make your blog as awesome as mine. I've filled the quotient for how awesome blogs are allowed to be and, like the Highlander, there can be only one.
Thanks to one of Google's newer features, however, you can post pics without worrying about the legal ramifications or trying to argue fair use. While I think fair use law will protect you in most situations, when you're unsure, or simply don't want to risk it, you can use Google's advanced image search feature.
As you can see from this screenshot here:

click to super-size.

there is now a feature within advanced image search option that allows you to search specifically for images that can be re-posted anywhere free of charge. You can even search for ones that will be used to create a profit for you. Neato, eh?
Now go, copy and paste to your heart's content.

Reviews. Army of Two: 40th Day, Bayonetta and Darksiders.

Alright, I'll admit, I simply do not have the funds to buy the lastest games just to be able to play them, much less review them. (If any game news publications or game studios out there are reading this though: feel free to hire me. I'll even give a you a free "trial period")
What I can do, however, is give you a rundown of the reviews posted on other sites, so here we go. Please note that i've broken down what reviews I can by system so you can check out what, if any, differences exist between the two versions. Ok...this only actually applies to Bayonetta. The rest are either a universal review that doesn't specify system or the same review was copy and pasted for all systems.

Army of Two: 40th Day










-1up.com, all systems
-IGN, all systems
-IGN video review

Bayonetta












-IGN, X360
-IGN, PS3

Darksiders: Wrath of War

















- 1up.com, all systems
-gamershell, all systems

Some bad news for Metal Gear movie fans.

You could always just play the games though. Maybe have some kind of narration while you're playing too. It would just be like a very long movie. I know some of you out there love this kind of stuff.

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For just pennies a day, you too can adopt poor CliffyB

Apparently the Gears of War franchise is broken and needs to be fixed FAST before the series is abandoned by gamers everywhere, according to IGN anyway. Anyone who has ever witnessed a Playstation vs Xbox fanboy squabble (or been involved in one, for shame) might find this hard to believe, but apparently IGN writer, Ryan Geddes -- in his second appearance on the blog today and somewhat in keeping with the same theme -- disagrees.
Mr. Geddes writes up an in-depth article on what's wrong with the Gears franchise and how to fix it. Whether or not you agree with the article it's still an interesting read and makes several valid points. You can check out the full article at the IGN link above.

Supreme Commander 2 details.

Fans of science fiction RTS rejoice! No, StarCraft II hasnt' been released early, sorry. Didn't mean to get your hopes up. However, IGN has details on Supreme Commander II and that's almost as good...kinda.

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Reach for it...

Well if the good people of Joystiq are to be believed, and they usually are, February's issue of Game Informer is going to have a 10 page cover story on Halo:Reach. The magazine's website will also leave a bread crumb trail of details for the rest of January throughout it's Halo:Reach section leading up to the issuess publication. These smaller articles will include details on the new game (obviously) as well as a look at the history of the franchise and profiles on employees of both Bungie and 343 Industries, the heir to the Halo mantle.
You can check out images of the February Issue of Game Informer's cover right here and pore over them for every detail you can squeeze out.

What Wii should be playing.

It seems lists are kind of the thing to do right now, as IGN has taken it upon themselves to assemble blurbs on the Wii's top 25 games to date.

Full Story (Wii)

That is SO chronological.

For those of you that love lists, and especially lists that compare things, CVG has quite the rundown for you. They've got articles up on their site listing the best games of every year of this console generation. In their opinion anyway. Keep in mind this is a European site, so some release dates may not be quite what you remember them as.

Check out their thoughts on each year:
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009

More Optimus, Les Shia.

Whether or not that's a good thing in the movies is up for debate. In a game, however, that victory belongs entirely to Optimus.

Full Story (PS3)
Full Story (360)

Why, that's a fanboy of a different color!

For those of you out there who are firmly of the belief that IGN has a Microsoft bias, you may want to give this editorial a look. In it, writer Ryan Geddes, goes into his decision to "change teams" to Sony, while also revealing he still owns his 360. A curious article to say the least (why does IGN keep posting these types of articles as of late?) that seems to be the gaming news giant's way of insisting it has no bias. Or perhaps their PS3 section is just taking the Mac route of turning market minority into snooty superiority. Mysteries of the Universe...
Regardless of IGN's actions, this brings me to the main point of this article: The Myth of Website Fanboyism. It's true that some gaming news sites have some type of console/company bias, but these are few and as far between as they are from the same status of respect as the major news sites. This is because a company is not a sentient thing, and therefore cannot have a bias; only people can have a bias. Yes, the writer's for major sites may have a bias, but that's why they work in the news section that corresponds to their console of preference.
So no, IGN isn't an Xbot, Joystiq doesn't hold the PS3 on a pedestal and 1up.com isn't all about the Wii, you get the idea. Maybe if you think they have a bias it's because you're spending time reading articles about your "opposing" console and are mad at yourself for being so curious about the system you're supposed to hate. But that will take us down a route of transference and other such Freudian blah blah blah so we'll lave that alone. Just rest assured that your fanboy brethren will not actually beat you to death if they discover you have an interest in another system, in fact they probably suffer the same affliction.
All that said, does this site, Higher Technology, have a bias? Abso-forking-lutely. It's only got one writer and (terrible) cartoonist. And as much as I'd love to "catch 'em all" I simply can't afford to add a Wii to my collection, much less a 360 instead/as well. I try to keep my PC capable of playing current gen games so I can keep up with some of Microsoft's console exclusives: Halo 1 and 2, Fable, Gears of War, Mass Effect, as well as "timed" exclusives like BioShock and Braid. What I'm saying is; I try. With only the PC and PS3 to work from I do my best to keep a balanced news load for all consoles. But when it comes to thorough reviews of games or even editorials about specific games, PS3 is going to win out every time. I love gaming as a whole, I want to play it all so I play as much as I can.
Which brings us to the point of why I made the decision to go with Playstation in the first place. At the dawn of the modern age of consoles is simply made the most sense. Given the track record I could assume that I would eventually be able to play some of the Xbox's biggest games on my PC, but the same could not be said for the likes of Metal Gear Solid 4, Uncharted (and honestly, I'd probably follow Naughty Dog to whichever console they're on, Crash ftw!), Resistance, Killzone 2, Gran Turismo or Lair at the time when my decision was being made. Blu-ray movies playback was just a bonus and added excuse to buy a fancy new HDTV, so my decision was made. Now, if I wasn't good at tinkering with my PC or interested in playing PC games would my decision have been different? Probably not, but that's just because of my taste in games. To someone else, even someone who doesn't have a feverish loyalty to a particular company, the choice could have been totally different.
It's all about what you like to play. And if you love gaming enough to actually mean those comments you leave on boards all across the Internet, maybe you shouldn't be so afraid to look at what the other guys have to offer because nothing is as valuable in pursuing a career as knowledge of the industry you wish to enter.