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Showing posts from March, 2004

Next Intelligent Systems Game - Paper Mario 2!

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Here's the 1up article outlining the Next Big Thing for Intelligent Systems. Can Nintendo R&D 1 do no wrong? Consider that Advance Wars 2 is the worst game they've made in the last 10 years, and Advance Wars 2 one of the best console strategy games. I think Bessie would like to send a special "thank you" to Intelligent Systems by developing two of the three biggest gaming time sinks in the last few years. (Fire Emblem, Advance Wars, and Rise of Nations, natch.) Plus, there's supposed to be an announcement about the next Fire Emblem game sometime in April. Hopefully it'll be in the US by the end of the year. . . Here's some screenshots from IGN . Yeah, I know, Day 2 and 3 of GDC isn't up yet. So sue me.

Such tough choices. . .

Carmack or Miziguchi ? Doom 3 or Rez? Sega's old wonderkid wins a "no contest" in my book. The Experimental Gameplay Workshop is this afternoon and Game Hotel is tonight! The Experimental Gameplay Workshop was my favorite session in previous years and I can't wait to see what new side projects people have been working on. I'll try to write tonight if I see anything worth mentioning.

GDC 2004: Day 1: I'm such a fanboy.

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Aside from some outrageously stupid talks and Microsoft's keynote that turned out to be a press conference, I would say one of the best GDC days I had. Risk and Return - Masahiro Sakurai Sakurai recently left Nintendo and is now an independent developer. He was the lead designer of the first few Kirby games and the Smash Bros series at Nintendo. I think he was one of the people that made Nintendo great for so many years. Unlike most Japanese presenters at GDC, Sakurai's presentation was well organized, had an interesting, generally applicable thesis, and the slides were brilliant. The talks focus was how risk and reward systems in games are tied together; the more risky a situation is in a game, the greater the reward can be generated from overcoming it. The example that I can think of is having your ship abducted in Galaga. It is a highly risky move that you can bet your whole game on, but the rewards of successfully reclaiming your captured ship makes the game mecha

Pikmin 2 - Zzzzzzzzzzzz

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What the heck is up with Pikmin 2? The first Pikmin game was an interesting take on a console RTS/puzzle game; flawed, but well worth playing. I played Pikmin 2 at E3 and it was so similar that I had to remind myself I was playing the sequel. Now a year later more screenshots from IGN and Pikmin 2 looks. . . almost exactly the same . I was hoping N would do something to turn this title around and give it more reason to exist than to fill up an increasingly vacant release schedule.

1up gives mad props to Sony

1up has published an incomplete, but compelling list of highlights of Sony's internal development teams consistent weirdness . As much as I want to hate Sony, I love PaRappa, Frequency, and Ico far too much to complain about their dominance of the console domain. If you're going to use the money you make from all those bazillion copies of soulless third party drivel to create a few beacons of creative light, well, I hate to say it, but long live the king.

What I've Been Playing

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Thoughts on games I've recently played: Prince of Persia - UbiSoft took Ico and made it all Hollywood. Know what? It isn't a dumbed-down knock-off but a carefully crafted homage with enough popular elements to make the game style appeal to a broader audience. The game features a rewind system that I can't imagine playing another platformer without. The platforming itself is darn good - Bessie often commented on how cool it looked as I was playing through it. In the included making-of feature, they say the Prince in PoP has more animations than any other game character and it is hard to argue the point after seeing the game in motion. The camera system of the game is bipolar; randomly switching from functional and cinematic to downright ornery and back again. Combat is also a let-down for such a well polished game. The Prince fights breathtakingly, but playing it feels sloppy and rarely second nature. Beyond Good and Evil - BG&E is an amazing game that has been tragica

Sequels!

As much as I love a new unique game, here are some sequels I can't wait to get my hands on: New Fire Emblem ! To be announced in April, I hope the game sold well enough in the US to make localizing the game worth the money. I'm still playing my favorite game of 2003 and I'm looking forward to the next adventure. Viewtiful Joe 2 ?! This is only a rumor, but I'm more surprised than I should be about Capcom developing a sequel. I consider Viewtiful Joe to be a masterpiece, and unfortunately, it has sold like one. Almost all my favorite recent games (Ico, Beyond Good & Evil, Rez, Frequency, Amplitude, Fire Emblem, etc) have not found a large enough audience to be profitable. In that regard, I'm very excited that one of the best games of last year has been given another chance to find its home in the heart of mainstream gaming, or at least a larger audience than the first. On the other hand, who am I kidding? This is Crapcom , the masters of destroying the memo

Are you ready for some futbol?

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World Soccer Winning Eleven 7 International . 15 syllables of nonsense, one amazing futbol game. Before I start coating the game with praise, a fair warning: the menus are the very definition of byzantine, the graphics and animation are sub-par, loading times aggrivating, the tutorials oppressive, and the commentary starts repeating within the first couple games. No matter; when you're running on the pitch you can feel the magic. The controls are analog and smooth as butter, and the game design the clearly illustrates the cost/benefit of certain maneuvers. When you lose the ball, you always know why. I typically don't like sports games but I'm starting to love this one.