General gaming

General gaming

Super Mario 3D Land Twists the Familiar Rather than Striking New Ground

Posted: 06 Oct 2011 05:00 AM PDT

When I nominated Super Mario 3D Land for the "Most Innovative" award at this year's E3, I wasn't entirely serious. I liked the fact that 3D Land was the first major game release I've ever come across to make 3D visualization something more than a mere gimmick, and I was amused by the fact that it did so by taking a decidedly old-fashioned approach to game design. By constraining level design to fixed, almost two-dimensional points of view, 3D Land employs the illusion of depth to help players navigate hazards that would be difficult to master through visual perspective alone.

It's a nice touch, and I'm glad to see 3D visuals used for something more substantial than a quick "gee golly" response, but most innovative game of the year? Nah, surely not. Outside of making actual use of the 3DS's top screen's depth slide, Super Mario 3D Land doesn't exactly revolutionize the medium. It's incredibly fun, no question about it, and it looks and plays great. But based on the dozen or stages Nintendo has shown off so far, 3D Land is definitely a case of the company's Tokyo studio producing variations on a theme rather than showing the way forward into a bold future of game design.

Apple Co-Founder and Former CEO Steve Jobs Passes Away

Posted: 05 Oct 2011 05:09 PM PDT

Steve Jobs

Just a day after the announcement of the latest iPhone, Steve Jobs has passed away.

Jobs, who was born on February 24, 1955 (making him 56 at the time of his death), was one of the original co-founders of Apple and served as its CEO for more than 14 years until resigning from the role this past August. He stayed on as chairman of the board.

He had been battling health issues (cancer, in particular) for years; he was forced to take a leave of absence from the company beginning this past January, though he still made appearances at several Apple events even during his time away. Although Tim Cook was named CEO in August and led yesterday's iPhone 4S event, many had expected Jobs to make an appearance of some sort.

Review: NBA 2K12 Falls Short of Being The Perfect Substitute For The NBA Lockout

Posted: 05 Oct 2011 03:31 PM PDT

I was fortunate enough (and, indeed, old enough) to see a number of the NBA's legends play in person in the '80s and '90s. Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Dr. J, and many others passed through Salt Lake City to take on the Jazz when I was a teenager -- and I saw them all. I was even in the stands for Michael Jordan's title-winning jumpshot over Bryon Russell (he pushed off!) in the 1998 NBA Finals. As a result, I have a pretty deep respect -- reverence even -- for the players who helped shape the NBA. It's nice, then, to see that a video game developer shares this same level of respect... mostly.

Playing the NBA's Greatest mode in NBA 2K12, which gathers together 15 of the league's all-time great players and the complete rosters of more than 30 teams, is a fitting tribute to those basketball gods. Every game is meticulously recreated with era-specific visuals (like a grainy black-and-white presentation for Bill Russell's 1965 Celtics squad) and commentary that informs and entertains about the legend you're playing. The rules are altered to fit the period, and players play the way they did at that point in time. It's almost like a playable museum of NBA history -- the kind of thing you'd relish sharing with your friends online. Except that you can't.

The Mario Brother from Another Planet

Posted: 05 Oct 2011 02:32 PM PDT

Feature

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The Mario Brother from Another Planet

Though he started as a mere clone of his sibling, Luigi's role has grown far more complex.

By: Francesco Dagostino October 5, 2011

Ah, the neverending struggle for video game heroes to keep abreast of the times. From their humble, pixel-based roots, these digital characters evolved into complex, emotional individuals -- seemingly, in the blink of an eye. After all, strengthening the connection between avatar and player became a necessity as the ever-changing medium of video games increased in complexity over the years.

And this process went well beyond mere design: appealing color palettes, fancy clothes and spikey hairstyles weren't enough to make a character stand out. And thus, some became tarnished by the pitiless course of time, some faded, while others survived and matured thanks to the skillfull planning of their creators -- and some even grew spontaneously, like ivy creeping its way up a damp stone wall.

Keiji Inafune Working on a 3DS Game Called King of Pirates

Posted: 05 Oct 2011 01:43 PM PDT


Longtime Capcom employee Keiji Inafune left the company after 23 years late last year. He announced his first post-Capcom project over the summer: The Island of Dr. Momo, a free-to-play game for Japanese mobile phones. It's not exactly what many of his fans were hoping to see, particularly those located outside of Japan. Inafune has now revealed his second game, which he says is his company's "very first console game," and it looks like it'll be of much greater interest to core gamers.

King of Pirates, known as KAIO in Japan, is a 3DS game in development at Intercept and being published by the newly-formed MarvelousAQL. According to Andriasang, it's an action-RPG with multiplayer support. It's officially described as a "pirate action adventure" game coming in 2012.

An official website has already launched, complete with an English version. A message from Inafune himself can be found there in which he speaks vaguely about the game, stating, "The story is set in the adventurous great ocean where heroes fight for their ambition, justice, and their lives." He talks about how heroes need strength, not righteousness, and how he wants the game to visualize "human appeal." He concludes by promising, "I will not disappoint you."

L.A. Noire Developer Team Bondi Shutting Down

Posted: 05 Oct 2011 12:57 PM PDT

L.A. Noire

Things weren't looking good over the summer for Team Bondi. The Sydney, Australia-based developer released L.A. Noire in May, which proved to be both a critical and commercial success and should have led to a great deal of prosperity for its creator. The IP, however, is owned by publisher Rockstar, and following its release the developer has been surrounded by talks of poor working conditions, former employees being left out of Noire's credits, and a poor relationship with Rockstar. Paperwork has now been filed indicating that the studio will soon close.

There were reports in August that Team Bondi wouldn't be around for much longer and that studio head Brendan McNamara was in talks to move staff over to George Miller's Australian production studio, Kennedy Miller Mitchell. Team Bondi's IP and assets were being sold off at the time, and then in September the company went into administration. According to Develop, a liquidator has been assigned to take care of any remaining business (selling assets and paying off debts) and "many" staff are indeed headed to KMM.

It's quite the fall from grace for Team Bondi, not to mention a rapid one. L.A. Noire was the only game it ever produced. It was in development for much of the past decade and its success quickly led to Rockstar expressing its interest in turning it into a franchise. But future installments would not be handled by Bondi; Rockstar had no interest in working with it again according to an anonymous source who revealed much of what happened at the developer.

New App Lets Windows Phones Act as an Xbox 360 Remote

Posted: 05 Oct 2011 11:28 AM PDT

Windows Phone Xbox Companion app

In addition to Microsoft's other big announcement today -- it's bringing a great deal of new on-demand video content from a variety of providers to Xbox 360, in addition to a selection of live TV -- it also teased the ability to control your 360 with a Windows Phone. This can be seen briefly right at the 1-minute mark of the video below, and we now have some additional details on that functionality.

This is possible with the new Xbox Companion app for Windows Phone devices. It's not available yet and is currently without an official release date ("coming soon" is the best date we've got to go on). A Microsoft blog post explains some of what's possible with the app. You can browse Xbox Live Marketplace content (games, movies, TV shows, and music) and get additional information about any of it. A specific example of this is seeing the cast for a movie and then being able to select an actor or actress to view other movies he or she has been in.

Japan Review Check: Ace Combat, Dead Rising

Posted: 05 Oct 2011 11:23 AM PDT

A quick look at the highlights among the games coming out in Japan this coming week, courtesy the review pages of Famitsu magazine:

- Ace Combat: Assault Horizon (10/9/9/9, 37 points): The top-scoring game of the week had to beat out some pretty hot competition to earn its Platinum award, but apparently it deserves it, because Famitsu found hardly anything to fault with the title. "The story's dramatic and full of suspense," one reviewer began. "The gameplay possibilities are vast, letting you get on everything from helicopters and bombers. The game's really become a massive action epic, letting jet fans and regular gamers both enjoy it on an even kill. I'm not completely complaint-free, but I am completely addicted!"

Yakuza Of the End Confirmed for Western Release as Dead Souls

Posted: 05 Oct 2011 11:00 AM PDT

A European trademark filing for Yakuza: Dead Souls seemed like a probable name for a western release of Yakuza Of The End. Sure enough, that's exactly the case. Sega today confirmed the newly-renamed Yakuza: Dead Souls is coming to the west next year.

Dead Souls is a great deal different from previous Yakuza games. As you could probably guess based on the name, it features zombies overtaking the fictional city of Kamurocho in Japan. It was very well received when it was released in Japan earlier this year, receiving a 37/40 score from Famitsu.

Game Arts Co-Founder Takeshi Miyaji's Last Interview

Posted: 05 Oct 2011 10:32 AM PDT

Takeshi Miyaji, who co-founded Tokyo-based developer Game Arts with his brother Yoichi in 1985, was a major force in the Japanese game industry's formative years. Starting off with fast-paced shooters like Thexder and Silpheed before moving on to influential console RPGs like Lunar and Grandia, Miyaji was one among several pioneers -- including Yiji Horii, Hironobu Sakaguchi and the folks at Nihon Falcom -- who defined Japanese RPGs as a successful genre.

Miyaji passed away July 29 at the age of 45 due to complications after surgery for a brain tumor. Famitsu had the opportunity to interview him back in May, however, just before his condition took a turn for the worse, and they published the text in this week's issue to kick off a new column devoted to '80s game developers.

Posted by Shri Krishna

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