General gaming

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• Prey 2 Delayed, Not Canceled, as Developer's Status Called Into Question
• Disgaea 3 Review: Its Ridiculousness Only Runs Skin-Deep
• The Most Important Changes Zelda Needs to Make
• Evil And Loving It: Six Decisions That Tap into Our Dark Side
• God of War: Ascension Goes Backward While Hopefully Taking the Series Forward

Prey 2 Delayed, Not Canceled, as Developer's Status Called Into Question Posted: 19 Apr 2012 04:49 PM PDT After keeping Prey fans in suspense for the past two months, publisher Bethesda has finally confirmed Prey 2 remains in development. It has, however, been delayed out of 2012 according to a surprisingly straightforward statement released earlier today. "Development of Prey 2 has not been canceled but the game will not be released in 2012 as planned," the statement read in part. "The delay is due to the fact that game development has not progressed satisfactorily this past year, and the game does not currently meet our quality standards." That's a far cry from the industry standard way of handling a situation like this, where we'd normally hear about nothing but an intense desire to ensure the game in question turns out as good as possible. That is what's hinted at here, but it's a far more pessimistic assessment of the progress that has been made than we're used to seeing publicly.

Disgaea 3 Review: Its Ridiculousness Only Runs Skin-Deep Posted: 19 Apr 2012 04:10 PM PDT Let us assume, for the sake of making a conversation, that we can both agree the original Disgaea was a brilliant piece of game design. No, not perfect by any means; but what it lacked in refinement it more than made up for with sheer audacity. Even if you're not a fan of its over-the-top sensibilities, you have to admit that Disgaea's unconventional combination of on-the-nose, metatextual skewering of anime game clichés and ludicrous obsession with stats and grinding was precisely the slap to the face the overly serious strategy RPG genre desperately needed a decade ago. The problem with a game so fresh, so irreverent, is that it paints its creators into a corner. A larger, more diverse developer probably could have simply followed up with something totally different. Nippon Ichi, on the other hand, was a tiny studio whose only modest pre-Disgaea successes had come with lighthearted but ultimately more conventional takes on the genre -- the precise sort of games Disgaea was mocking. By their standards, Disgaea was a blockbuster, but it also broke that old rule of (pardon my French) not shitting where you eat. Having ruthlessly ripped their previous work a new one, Nippon Ichi certainly couldn't go backward. Forward was the only choice, and that meant more Disgaea.

The Most Important Changes Zelda Needs to Make Posted: 19 Apr 2012 02:10 PM PDT Feature Share it: Tweet The Most Important Changes Zelda Needs to Make How Nintendo's flagship series can thrive by breaking free from tradition. By: 1UP Staff April 19, 2012 Bob Mackey, Associate Editor After attending the San Francisco performance of The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses, I couldn't help but walk away from the event with a strange sensation buzzing around in the back of my brain. Yes, the series made an immeasurable impact on game design, with the original NES game and Ocarina of Time each establishing the rules for their respective formats, but the pomposity now exhibited by the Zelda property as a whole comes off as grating -- and with the last two console installments not bothering to change the formula much, a bit unearned. Of course, I can't deny the goosebumps populating my body during some of the more stirring (and nostalgic) pieces played during the concert, but since the marvelously cartoony The Wind Waker, The Legend of Zelda seems to have completely lost its sense of humor. And by attempting to establish the story's epic beginning, Skyward Sword in particular sold itself on the sheer importance of Zelda, without really doing much to prove why the series abducted our hearts and minds over the past quarter-century.

Evil And Loving It: Six Decisions That Tap into Our Dark Side Posted: 19 Apr 2012 01:44 PM PDT Feature Share it: Tweet Evil And Loving It: Six Decisions That Tap into Our Dark Side Choices that only make sense if you're an unrepenting jerk. By: Dennis Farrell April 19, 2012 When we're presented with a moral choice, the "evil" path can usually be justified in some small way. Coercing a destitute quest-giver into handing over his family heirloom as a reward for your services? That ring of +1 Charisma could help you save lives down the line. Somehow. Maybe. Leaving a poisoning victim to die? Finding the cure would take at least thirty seconds, and your mission is so vital that you can't waste any time -- aside from romancing party members and gambling on mini-games, that is.

God of War: Ascension Goes Backward While Hopefully Taking the Series Forward Posted: 19 Apr 2012 01:02 PM PDT A new God of War game is officially on the way to PlayStation 3, and it's not God of War IV as many expected. After being teased by Sony over the last week, the surprise was spoiled prior to its proper announcement, first by the file name of an image on Sony's servers, and then by an Amazon listing revealing the latest entry in the series: God of War: Ascension. God of War III was designed as the end of the trilogy. It was always made clear more games would be coming, though it's becoming increasingly clear Sony has no interest in leaving Kratos behind. The bald, ill-tempered (seriously -- he ripped a guy's head off and proceeded to use it as a flashlight) protagonist of every GoW game to date makes a return in Ascension, which will, like both of the series' PlayStation Portable games, be a prequel. You could be mistaken for thinking, "Again?" in response to hearing that detail: this is now the third prequel (or fourth if you count the mobile title Betrayal, though only Chains of Olympus and Ascension take place before the original game) to be released, meaning there are now more GoW prequels than sequels, which is a pretty peculiar place for a franchise to find itself. It's not as if the potential for God of War IV is not there; III ended on a cliffhanger that left open the door for Kratos to make his triumphant return in the inevitable GoW IV, though if that proves to be the case, Ascension will likely take the edge off of his "return."

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