If I had to pick one word to sum up my thoughts, it would be underwhelming.  I expected more of a Splinter Cell-type game, with the ability to be covert and do some cool stealth kills, but that’s never really the case.  You can crawl around on the floor, but the maps are designed in such away that you’ll be dead within a few minutes if you try that.  This isn’t like I thought it would be — it doesn’t feel Metal Gear.  It plays like a third-person shooter, and that’s really it.  I hope this is just a hint at things to come.  The maps need to be better designed to accommodate the stealth action MGS has become known for.  At the moment, it’s feeling a bit generic.  The graphics are nice, the animations are smooth, but the gameplay is lacking for me right now.  It is only a beta, so I’m not expecting great things, I just thought it would be more covert than running and gunning.  Nevertheless, the man-cannon is damn good fun.  Loading yourself in, positioning and then pulling the lever to propel yourself into the air.  The landing animation leaves a bit to be desired, though.  

Do leave a comment and let me know your thoughts on the beta.  I for one was a little disappointed, but it hasn’t soured my thoughts on the full MGS4 game, which I’ll be buying on June 12th!

Following the frankly terrible organisation of the MGO beta scheduled to be released yesterday, Konami have taken a step back and changed their plans.  (Sorry for the Metal Gear-heavy news recently, but there’s a lot of updates regarding it right now).  The servers crashed everywhere apart from Japan yesterday, it appears that despite Kojima’s disappointment with the game, there’s a hell of a lot of people who want to play it.  For Europe (and I believe it’s the same with the US), the start date has now been pushed back to the 25th April 2008, and will end on 11th of May 2008.  I bit of a disappointment in the delay, but it is understandable.  Really, they should have done what Halo 3 did with its beta and release it in different areas at different times, but it’s a lesson learnt (hopefully).

They’ve also worked out their servers for the Konami ID sign up, so if you haven’t got yours yet go for a Quick Registration and get one before Friday.  It’s surprising how many different ID’s you need, and to be honest the organisation of this beta hasn’t been up to scratch.  Is this an indication of what’s to come when the full game is released…?

“…imagine him talking in his British accent as I present some extended excerpts from our interview. And when I say “extended,” I mean “extended.” This isn’t everything, but it’s a lot. Frankly, I just think everything in here is really interesting and worth sharing. I’ve got him talking why “GTA IV” is the first truly original game in the series, why storage capacity is more important than console power, why Rockstar doesn’t make first person games, why he doesn’t want to make a “GTA” movie, why he considers the upcoming episodic content an “experiment,” what he has to say to critics of “GTA’s” sex and violence, and why he thinks his games deserve to stand beside movies, not other videogames (amongst many other topics).“

If you’d like to read the full article, here’s the link.  It’s some nice reading in the countdown to the game being released in one weeks time.

And, on top of that, it’s been revealed that the soundtrack being available when walking around the map is no longer being included in the game.  Might not be the biggest feature to lose, but its one that some people were looking forward to and it could mean that in the next week we’re going to be told a few more maybe more important features won’t be making a final appearance in the game.  I mentioned in a previous article that may be the case, but as long as nothing big has to be sacrificed, I don’t think anyone will miss the lost features.

Following my disappointment with the way the Metal Gear Online beta was implemented, I find out that Hideo Kojima — the creator and director of the Metal Gear games — is disappointed with how MGS4, his final game he’ll be involved with in the series, turned out.  The latest issue of Edge magazine contains an interview with the high-rolling game developer where his chagrin with the game due for release on June 12th this year, and one of the most anticipated PS3 exclusives ever.  But, what’s his problem with it?  Is the gameplay not up to scratch?  No, it appears he’s disappointed with the graphical capabilities of the PS3.

“Game-wise, it’s pretty close to the original vision: you sneak into the battlefield and can choose whether to do a stealth game or interfere with the battle more directly. But the graphic, side things like motion-blending and the size of the map, totally was not accomplished to my original vision – to my satisfaction.”

I beg to differ from what I’ve seen so far.  The graphics look nothing short of astounding (and I’m sure I’ll get a better idea about them from the online beta… when it’s released).  Now, Kojima is a well-known perfectionist, but that doesn’t really mean he can go around badmouthing the game just months from release.  The only press he seems to be giving the final part of the Metal Gear franchise is bad press.  What does he blame his disappointment on?

“When we first showed the game engine at TGS, the staff were really proud and happy. PS3 was a dream machine, y’know, and we were going to work on this and that – and we had so many ideas. But when we actually started developing the game, we realized there were a lot of restrictions and so it turned out how you see it today. The original vision was to go ten steps further, the reality was just one step, which isn’t to say we didn’t progress.”

Looks like they overestimated the power of the PS3, as did many consumers.  The pre-release videos (eg the E3 Killzone 2 trailer) were extremely misleading about what the PS3 could actually do.  It seems progress was made, just not enough for his liking.

“I remember saying three years ago that we wanted to create something revolutionary, but in reality we couldn’t really do that because of the CPU. We’re using the Cell engine to its limit., actually. Please don’t get me wrong, I’m not criticizing the PS3 machine, it’s just that we weren’t really aware of what the full-spec PS3 offered – we were creating something we couldn’t entirely see.”

So, it’s not revolutionary.  Great.  Being modest is one thing but this is just simply talking down your own game for really no reason that I can see, and all its done is made me slightly less excited about MGS4.  Don’t think I won’t be there on release day, though!

It’s something I was expecting, but something I was hoping didn’t happen.  It appears Konami underestimated the amount of people who were going to use the Metal Gear Online beta when it was supposed to ‘go live’ across the world today.  The Japanese servers are up, so everyone over there can play to their hearts content.  It’s just the rest of us who are left out in the cold and now waiting for an announcement of when we might actually get to play this thing.  I downloaded the patch last night in anticipation of today.  I managed to get hold of my own Konami ID (which is a battle in its own right) and entered them into the beta today, only to be presented with a server error.  There’s been a huge demand for this, which has caused Konami to back down, postpone the beta service temporarily and rethink.

They made an announcement today (which you can find here), outlining that the beta is now postponed, and they’ll make another announcement tomorrow explaining when it will actually be online and ready to play.  As some of you may be aware, this is a timed demo in the sense that it will be unavailable after the 5th of May, but following this they’ve elongated it to finish on the 11th (giving us a hint of when we could expect the beta up — closer to the end of this week as opposed to the beginning as it should be).  I’ve been waiting for this for a while, and it was supposed to tide me over until I got GTA IV next week, but it seems like they’ll be released pretty much concurrently.  Sorry Metal Gear, you can’t draw me away from playing GTA.  It’s one battle Snake just can’t win.  

This comes hot on the heels of me finding out that Kojima himself isn’t totally pleased with MGS4, his final game in the series, and it makes today a bit of a Metal Gear downer.  Hopefully it’s something that will be cleared up temporarily with the final release of the beta.  Hopefully.

Another feature, the second full one to the site, and this time I consider the Playstation 3 and whether its time has finally come in the year 2008.  Will MGS4 give the PS3 the top spot in the console war?  Has Microsoft managing to get their hands on GTA IV plus some exlusive DLC meant the PS3 is doomed to fail?  Find out more after the cut…

Be aware.  I usually want and try to maintain a balanced and objective view on console news and game releases, but for this feature my PS3-owner hat is firmly on.  I’ve tried to still balance it out with some big 360 and Wii releases, but at times it may feel a little biased or one-sided, even if I’ve tried not to make it sound like that.  And for that I apologise in advance.

Let’s face it.  The PS3 hasn’t had an easy time up until now, with the 360 in many peoples opinions the better system to get.  And who’s to blame them.  It’s had arguably the better exclusive titles in games such as Halo 3 and Gears of War, and obviously had all the same multiplatform titles.  The PS3, on the other hand, has had good exclusive games few and far between, with the launch title Resistance: Fall of Man still being one of the top ones, even though it was released over a year ago in 2006.

But that is all about to change.

I’ve been looking through the 2008 game listings, and I come across PS3 exclusive after PS3 exclusive that I can’t wait for.  And, I think it’s time for the 360 to move aside the the Playstation finally show what it’s made of.  And I think a big part of that is the fact Sony has finally seemed to have woken up.  With the latest PSN store update, although it might not have been perfect, shows they’ve started listening to their customers more (since this was initiated through an opinion poll) and hopefully is an indication of what’s to come.  Online enhancements is probably to come hot on the heels of this, with more features akin to the Xbox LIVE service, while maintaining its no-cost nature.

But, it’s the games which will really makes this a great year to own Sony’s latest console, so I’ve collected five games here which I think will make 2008 the year of the PS3, leaving the 360 and even the Wii out in the cold.  Am I right?  There’s no way to know until December 31st 2008, but I think all these following games will shift systems out of the shops, which can only be a good thing for Sony.  So, here are 5 PS3 exclusives this year which will propel the PS3 from where it is now (which I believe is losing the console war), to leaving the others behind in the dust.  Let’s get started then, shall we?

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
June 12th 2008, PS3 

The obvious choice, and potentially the most anticipated PS3 exclusive ever.  I cannot wait for this.  But, what I’m really anticipating is not the gameplay or the multiplayer component (although they are compelling reasons to purchase), but it’s the story.  Having not completely played all past Metal Gear games, I’m not fully up to date with the story, but if MGS4 can wrap up Solid Snake’s story while making it largely accessible to someone like me, who doesn’t know the narrative inside out but has a decent knowledge, then it’s done a good job, and what’s driving me to buy this is to find out what Snake’s final mission will be, how it will progress and ultimately how it will end.  From the gameplay videos I’ve seen, Snake in a warzone works wonders.  Is it good enough to surpass MGS2, which is consider to be the best of the series?  I’m not sure, but I’m willing to find out!  With the MGS4 online beta open to play soon, we’ll be able to find out how the real thing will play.  Plus, unlike other games, this is sure to give us a considerably lengthy (and challenging) single player game for the final chapter of the series.  Add on the multiplayer component and this will give a lot of gameplay, and will most probably be one of the best games on the PS3 ever.  Probably not to everyones tastes, but for people who enjoy this type of game, it will surely be one of the best purchases you could make for your PS3 this year.

LittleBigPlanet
September 2008, PS3 

You may be thinking “What the hell is that?”, and I wouldn’t blame you.  It’s not a big hitter like MGS4, but it is one of the most innovative games you’re likely to see on your PS3.  In a market which is quickly becoming saturated with First Person Shooters, LittleBigPlanet breaths a breath of fresh air to the marketplace, and looks to bring a truly enjoyable experience with it.  Co-op online play may be a welcome addition to most games, something to do after the single-player campaign, LittleBigPlanet is built around it, with online play being a major feature and the community being a big selling point.  You play as a sack who, with other players online, navigate a series of different environments through working together.  It sounds a little risky — online people can usually get bored and quit half-way through, so what would that mean for your collaborative effort?  And won’t playing the same levels get boring?  No is the simple answer.  Because that same community you play with can create new and inventive environments.  Anyone can, and it doesn’t require any kind of complex coding or placing systems, it’s been said to just be a case of point and click.  I don’t really know what to make of it, myself, whether it might just be a short-lived novelty or if the user-created content could keep it perpetually moving forward constantly.  It certainly does look great, though.

Grand Theft Auto IV
April 29th 2008, PS3, Xbox 360 

Okay, okay, so it isn’t a PS3 exclusive game, but I don’t think that reason is fair to exclude it from the list, and I have my reasons.  This is almost certainly going to be the biggest selling game of this year, potentially of all time (although that’s disputable).  And, Rockstar have most definitely earned it.  Since GTA III, they’ve turned out classic after classic, with Vice City and San Andreas improving on the tried and tested formula, keeping things fresh, and GTA IV is going to be fantastic — I don’t have to have played the game to know that.  Rockstar have earned their stripes, and I can’t see them faltering with their back catalogue.  But, why is it on this list?  Yes, you can get this on the 360, as many people will be, but only on the PS3 can you get GTA and MGS4 in the same year.  The 360 has the current advantage of guaranteed exclusive DLC, but the PS3 has also been confirmed as getting some of its own.  And, to be honest, what would you prefer?  10 hours extra GTA to download in August (possibly for a price) or an exclusive full game like MGS4 or Killzone 2?  It might not be a particularly strong argument, but I know where I stand on it.  That’s why it’s going to contribute to the year of the PS3, because it will work to enhance the other exclusive games available this year.  And it’s going to be damn good fun. 

Killzone 2
September 2008, PS3 

The first game was terrible.  Well, maybe not terrible but it certainly didn’t live up to the hype surrounding it.  The gameplay was generic and the numerous technical faults and repetition made it more of a chore to play than fun.  The one thing it had going for it was that it looked great, and Killzone 2 seems to keep that up.  From the trailers, the game looks fantastic, but does maintain its predecessors bad gameplay?  I hope Guerilla games have learnt their lesson and made the fight against the creepy Helghast more enjoyable.  Give us a wider variety of enemies to fight, more inventive weapons and a more compelling story and it will be fun.  There seems to be too much rested on good graphics nowadays, and that’s the wrong stance to take.  Graphics are a part of the experience, and there’s no point having good graphics is there isn’t a solid base to build up from in gameplay.  Killzone proved that and I hope Killzone 2 rectifies that.  I’m actually a little surprised a sequel was even considered after the first one was less than satisfactory, but it’s been a major player in Sony’s PS3 marketing, so I hope there’s an improvement here.

Playstation Home
Spring 2008, PS3 

The final game on my list isn’t technically a game, but it’s something which sounds pretty interesting.  It’s basically a ‘Second Life’ type download for your PS3, where you create an avatar and then get your own personal space within this world in which you can do what you want.  Then, as you progress you get bigger houses, more stuff etc.  You can walk around the world, talk with other users (text/voice), and this is all available to you from your own PS3, and you can access this whenever you want from your X media bar when you start your system up.  It’s been in development from Sony since 2005, so I’m expecting something good.  Not really my type of thing, but I’ll give it a couple of tries when it’s released for download, but if it requires any payment I probably won’t bother. But, it’s on the list because I’m sure it will create a thriving large community of PS3 owners, and really show what the console is made of, appealing to another market and enhancing the experience for current owners.

There we go, then.  My idea of the five games this year which will prove it’s the year of the PS3 (there are more, but I chose a diverse set of games, excluding ones which were too similar).  Yes, the 360 has Gears of War 2 coming in September which should be cool, but that’s really the only exclusive I can think of right now that’s worth a mention.  I’m not 100% sure what the Wii has to offer, but Wii fit and Okami were games I was looking out for.  But, then, I don’t think it’s really fair to compare the PS3 with the Wii because they’re so different and targeted at different people.  The PS3 and 360 are relatively similar in that regard.  The 360′s time has come and past with Halo 3 and Gears of War, 2008 is the time for the Playstation to step up and show what it’s made of.  Agree?  Disagree?  Leave a comment and give me your opinion on whether the PS3 will show its metal this year and really start its fighting in the console war.

Due out next month, this PS3 exclusive is getting a healthy amount of press as it’s yet another game this year that could prove the PS3 is making a comeback from its less than impressive current game library.  Developed by Free Radical Design, who made the successful Timesplitters franchise, but this has a more serious FPS tone, with more adult themes incorporated.  You play as a Mantel soldier, who make use of the Nectar drug to give them enhanced speed, accuracy and strength.  This drug can also be used by Mantel to control the minds of its soldiers.  It has the effect of a hallucinogenic drug, which alters the soldiers’ perception of reality, and an overdose of Nectar can be dangerous, leading to serious side-effects such as loss of mental control or even death.  The Mantel are fighting against a group of rebel soldiers, but here’s where the twist is…

The character you play as is Shane Carpenter, a 25 year old Mantel soldier.  But, after he sees what effect Nectar has on his fellow soldiers (and after he starts suffering withdrawal symptoms of the drug — seeing what the world is like without it), Shane turns rogue, joining the rebel army and fighting against the Mantel.  While this may not be the most original twist to the story ever, it should be interesting to have essentially fought both sides of the battle, seeing it from both perspectives.  The rebels have a variety of different fighting techniques that the Mantel’s don’t.  They can go into a play dead state to allow them to allow them to regenerate some of their health.  They can steal the Mantel’s guns and bury grenades under the ground to be used as mines.  On top of that, they have the ability to exploit the Mantel’s dependance on Nectar by attacking the Nectar injector and using the drug to create new weapons such as Nectar grenades.

Of course, with Carpenter having been a Mantel in the past, I’m sure it will have some effect in his fighting during the game.  He might still be having side-effects of the drug, giving him some enhanced abilities over the others.  And, it should be fun to fight against the Mantel, who would all have the same enhanced skills.  Lots of weapons are available from pistols and assault rifles to laser guns and flamethrowers.  The game also supports a wide range of multiplayer modes, including a variety of co-op games over the internet or split-screen and then the general 24-player online battles which I’m sure will contain the normal game types such as deathmatches and capture the flag.  From the screens available, the graphics do look beautiful, if the environments do appear a little bland and generic sometimes.  There’s a lot more to this game than I’ve outlined above, and as we crawl closer to the release date I’ll be sure to keep you updated with some more details.  It’s a highly hyped and highly anticipated game, but will it be another Killzone and ultimately disappoint?  Apart from the Nectar drug, there isn’t a lot else which I can say makes it stand out, but we’ll have to wait and see if it’s another game that sounds good on paper but fails in execution.

Game studios need money to survive, it’s simple.  Their one goal is to make a profit, that’s why so much money is pumped into making the game itself and marketing.  So, if something isn’t selling well and not making enough of money, they need to rethink their strategies.  Videogames for next-gen systems now are really getting expensive — in the UK around £50 for a PS3 or 360 game, £40 for a Wii game.  For a single game, especially if it turns out to be a bad one, that’s a lot of money.  But, the prices are staying at this price for one reason and one reason only: people are buying them.  They may not like the price they’re at, they might think it’s too much, but they want the item and they buy it.  So, prices stay the same, and RRP game prices stay at the same level.  Sure, maybe you buy online (like I do) and find games for cheaper prices, but the majority of people use game shops regularly, so usually pay the full RRP.

Poor sales force game manufacturers to re-think their selling tactics, primarily their price point, and it can force them to drop it.  Take the PS3 for example.  It was released over here at an extortionate price of £425.  It didn’t sell badly, but not as well as Sony had hoped in relation to the competition.  This might have spurred them onto revising their price point, releasing a £300 in a hopeful bid for sales.  And, despite the removal of PS2 backwards compatibility from the cheaper version, it seems to have worked.  This, along with other similar events, indicates that you do have a voice when it comes to price, and you can vote with your spending pounds/dollars if you think something is too pricey.  If you do think something is too expensive, don’t buy it, because that will mean the price will drop if enough people take that stance.  You might think you not buying something won’t make a difference, but if there are other people who do the same, it will. 

The same goes for downloadable content, or DLC.  They can be notoriously expensive.  So, if you don’t want to pay £5 for a couple of new maps, don’t.  If enough people do the same, the price will drop like you wanted.  I personally think all DLC for a game should be free.  You’ve bought the game for what is a lot of money for what it is, you shouldn’t need to pay more simply so you can play on a couple of new maps online.  Really, think about how much you really want it too.  Do you really want this extra map?  By buying it, you are casting your vote in the direction of keeping the price the same for that specific DLC, and maybe some future DLC.  If you don’t buy, your vote is in the direction of price change — specifically a price drop.  It’s not fair for a company to put an advantage such as new armour or weapons on sale, where some people may not be able to afford it and then be at a disadvantage over another player during the game.  Sarcastic Gamer proved something similar to this when they boycotted EA’s plans to release planned DLC with their soon-to-be-released game — Battlefield: Bad Company.  They were planning on releasing 5 weapons on a pay-to-play status, and as is obvious, this would put the people who bought the weapons at an advantage over the others for their wider selection of weapons, however much EA might have claimed it was all balanced out.  Thanks to the boycott, the 5 weapons will now be available for a free download, which shows that everyone does have a voice when it comes to situations like this, when companies charging for DLC is unacceptable for many people.

Games companies shouldn’t be charging for these things, and hopefully in the future they won’t, but the same goes for every other purchase, such as a console or peripheral.  The message of the post is:  if you don’t think an item is at a reasonable enough price, don’t buy it.  It’s impossible to put this into practice all the time, but with things you don’t really need, it’s worth thinking before you shell out your hard-earned cash.

This is a fully restored Ectomobile, here making an appearance at Minnesota Best Buy to promote the new Ghostbusters game.  I’ve talked about the Ghostbusters game in an earlier post, and the fact I don’t really know much about it, so this car might not mean anything to me, but I’m sure fans of the films will recognise it.  For a games company to do something like this for promotion though is interesting, especially for a game that hasn’t really gotten the most press so far.