General gaming

General gaming

Sony's Gaikai Acquisition Could Shake Up the Industry

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 02:32 PM PDT

Gaikai Sony

Many believe the future of the games industry is in cloud gaming, where the game you're playing is run on servers located at a datacenter (as opposed to the console/handheld/PC in your home) and streamed to a screen -- a TV, computer, phone, tablet, etc. Should that prove to be the case, Sony has ensured it will be prepared by acquiring cloud gaming company Gaikai for $380 million. It's a deal which has numerous implications, the most intriguing of which is what the cloud's implementation will be in the PlayStation 4 and how that potentially negates the need for another PlayStation console to ever be released.

Back in May it was reported that a deal between Sony and either Gaikai or OnLive would be announced at E3. It's possible that was the case, and due to the particulars still being worked out, an announcement could not be made as planned; the press release Sony Computer Entertainment sent out last night notes the deal still has to go through closing conditions and the usual regulatory stuff. Those should be no issue at all, and knowing the deal is with Gaikai enables us to now better brainstorm what things could look like down the road.

Scientific American: How Social Camouflage Changed Snake Eater

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 02:26 PM PDT

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Scientific American: How Social Camouflage Changed Snake Eater

Cover Story: In order to infiltrate a secure research lab, Kojima Productions chose to redefine a familiar aspect of their stealth game.

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isguises have always played a small part in the Metal Gear series, and rightly so. Each game offers a full-sized adventure filled with perilous boss battles, high levels of security, and challenging mission objectives. But infiltrating the various military outfits isn't always easy on the player's nerves.

A scene from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi aptly captures the thrill and tension of infiltrating an area under hostile guard. You remember the scene, right? The one where Han Solo, Chewie, and Luke Skywalker use a stolen Imperial shuttle to bypass the fleet and quietly land on Endor, a forrest moon under occupation by the Galactic Empire. During their approach Luke senses Darth Vader's presence on a nearby command ship. After reassuring his Jedi friend, Han warns Chewie to keep his distance from the Imperial fleet, but then tells the Wookie pilot to not look like they're trying to keep their distance. When Chewie barks back a question in frustration, Han's answer succinctly sums up the crew's combined anxiety. "I don't know. Fly casual, " he orders. The next few moments of rigid silence speak volumes.

Skulls of the Shogun Deceives in All the Right Ways

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 02:16 PM PDT

It's no secret that 1UP has championed Skulls of the Shogun in the past; the downloadable title earned our Best Strategy Game award way back at E3 2011. The game, which initially presents itself as Advance Wars-cum-Akira Kurosawa, has quietly been rolling through the development cycle over the past few years, and it's finally nearing the finish line for a fall release. After spending some quality time with the stylish strategy-action hybrid, the thing I took away most is that Skulls of the Shogun deceives in all the right ways.

When I say that SotS is deceptive, I mean it with no offense whatsoever. While the game initially flaunts its accessibility, the most important thing you should know is that its initial ease of entry is a sleight of hand trick. Like the best Svengali, the game is inviting to anyone from a strategy novice to a hardened Fire Emblem vet. But once you begin to peel back the game's layers, you quickly discover countless levels of depth that are bound to make it the kind of title that can quickly grab hold of the player and not let go until they've mastered every minute facet.

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The goal of most matches is to kill the opposing team's general unit while simultaneously protecting your own. This unit is an amalgam of both the king and queen in chess; it's the most powerful unit on the battlefield, but its demise means game over. SotS manages to shy away from the rigid formalities of grid-based strategy titles by utilizing a much more forgiving mode of movement. You're allowed to move each unit freely within a set area, affording you the opportunity to utilize cover and create chains of characters that help fortify your defenses. You have to factor in such things as range, defensive capabilities, and environmental hazards, creating quite a bit of strategy out of something that initially seems incredibly simple. SotS has the potential to draw in wealth of players who've never really dabbled in the strategy genre and quickly create a whole mess of new fans.

Cover Story: Metal Gear Turns 25

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 01:59 PM PDT

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Cover Story: Metal Gear Turns 25

1UP commemorates a quarter-century of tactical stealth action.

With so much history behind it, it's hard to talk about Metal Gear without getting a little caught up in nostalgia and awe. The series constantly challenges video game traditions. Each new Metal Gear game strives to be cinematic, bold, and filled with subtle gameplay systems that allow for player experimentation. This is the essence of Metal Gear: It's as much about sneaking around to avoid conflict as it is about testing the boundaries of the world around the player. Each unique adventure presents a gripping narrative rich with social political commentary that engages the state of the military world and the effects of rapidly growing technology.

After 25 years, we've seen a lot happen to protagonist Solid Snake. From the growing threat of nuclear proliferation to the alarming growth of large paramilitary corporations, the Metal Gear games tackle these hefty topics despite presenting themselves through an action movie-style lens. For all the preaching you see in a Metal Gear game, you also see Snake benefit from weapons made possible through the same advances in technology -- even the Metal Gear MK. II owes some inspiration to its nuclear-equipped big brother. Nevertheless, the series most richly rewards players for choosing the path of non-lethal stealth; a stunning contrast to its themes of conflict and war.

The Snake and the Wheel: The Cyclical Nature of Metal Gear

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 01:58 PM PDT

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The Snake and the Wheel: The Cyclical Nature of Metal Gear

Cover Story: Deja vu? Exploring the meta in Metal Gear.

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ctober 1998. I'm creeping slowly through the tank hangar of a military installation located in the frigid wastes of Alaska's Shadow Moses Island -- or rather, my proxy Solid Snake is. A comforting sense of familiarity settles over me as I slink around the corner of a parked tank in order to avoid the line-of-sight of a patrolling soldier. The guard wanders obliviously in the other direction, and we make a quick dash for the elevator in the north wall. We'd been here before, Snake and I.

Not exactly here, of course; ten years before, the action transpired in the far warmer climes of Outer Heaven, a rogue military state along the South African border. Back then, Snake was a tiny 8-bit sprite, the tanks were background objects drawn with the awkwardness of false perspective, and the soldier's line of sight was so hilariously limited that moving even a few pixels from his laser-precise 12 o'clock position would render Snake effectively invisible. Yet the creators of Metal Gear Solid managed to lift that experience from hardware that was creaking with age when the game debuted (on MSX in 1987, and the NES version I knew in 1988), rejuvenate it with cutting-edge visuals and presentation, and somehow retain the heart of the game I had enjoyed so long ago. The enemy guards were smarter now, though their poor peripheral vision had been supplanted by crippling nearsightedness. The tanks looked a lot more realistic. The dynamic snow-covered environments outside the hangar meant enemies could track me by my footprints. Yet this was still Metal Gear through and through.

From Surrogate to Superman: Raiden's Unlikely Transformation

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 01:57 PM PDT

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From Surrogate to Superman: Raiden's Unlikely Transformation

Cover Story: How fan reaction shaped the role of Metal Gear Solid 2's lead.

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veryone knows Metal Gear Solid 2 garnered a less-than-stellar reception upon its release; while the press lavished praise on its daring story and detailed world, players saw themselves as victims of the biggest con job in gaming history. Reports of this rage might be a bit exaggerated, but not to those of us who worked retail the day after its release; never before had I witnessed buyer's remorse take such an aggressive turn.

Posted by Shri Krishna

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