I saved the best for last. Since I am a huge Sim fan, getting to see the preview of the Sims3 expansion World Adventures was the best! We were not allowed to take pictures so I can only describe what I saw.
Nerf gun
Nerf N-Strike Elite was the third game I previewed at the EA Blogger’s Day. This is a really cool multiplayer game for the whole family, one that you can play with your kids or your friends or both. The game comes with a Nerf gun that can shoot real nerf bullets, but pop the Wii remote inside and it becomes your weapon of choice to kill robots. Yes, robots… kill the robot and rack up points. Try to beat your teammates by getting the high score.
Jambo everyone! That’s the greeting we all learn to say on the Safari ride at Disney. I’m not at Disney World, but I did see African animals in the new EA game SimAnimals Africa while attending the Blogger’s Day event.
Detective Sim following leads on the roof
The first game demo I saw at Friday’s EA Blogger’s Day was the newest MySims game, MySims Agents, demonstrated by Lead Producer, Rachel Bernstein, and Assistant Designer, Geoff Mitchell. A bit different from the previous versions, this one is an Adventure game where you get to solve mysteries.
Growing up I was a huge comic book fan, but mostly on the DC side of things. I didn’t really get into the Marvel world until later in high school and college, but at that point, the height of my comic book infatuation had long since passed. When the Marvel movies started coming out, I found myself drawn to those characters much like my younger days with my favorite DC heroes like Batman and Superman. Enter Marvel Ultimate Alliance, which I played through completely on both the Xbox 360 and PS3. I enjoyed the hell out of the game, but it wasn’t without some major flaws. Development of the sequel transferred over to Vicarious Visions who dropped in an updated engine, Havok physics, Fusion powers, and all types of goodness that makes me want this game on my desk right now. We got a chance to play through quite a bit of campaign this past Monday at the Vicarious Visions studios and had a blast.
If there is something the PSP lacks, it is must have titles. The last really big killer app was God of War: CoO. Patapon is cool, but not what you would call a system mover. We were all delighted to hear that MGS is coming to the PSP in a new adventure taking place a decade after MGS3: Snake Eater. The length of the game may surprise you.
It will take you well over a hundred hours to complete according to published reports. This makes Oblivion look like Quantum of Solace. I am torn on this latest news break. I want a really, really good game for the PSP, but am I willing to invest hundreds of hours into a game on a handheld? Hunched over for that long peering into a small screen is making me dizzy already. It is hard to complain about such occurrences but gamers always want the best gameplay, best graphics, and enough game to warrant a purchase. MGS: PW will likely give all three, but is it just too long for a handheld. Thoughts?
Just watch. You’ll feel what I’m feeling. Just watch.
[Update] People involved in the game say the AC-130 kill streak perk can be used after a kill streak of 11. Don’t expect too many of these to be flying overheard like with the helicopters.
How short is too short? I’m not referring to wangs this time, but campaign length. Gamers flew through the single player campaign in Halo 3. People had beaten the game by the time I woke up to go to work the day after launch. All sauced up on Mtn. Dew Game Fuel, gamers bought the game at midnight, and had beaten it before McDonald’s opened for breakfast. As you all can attest to, beating Halo 3 on Normal and Legendary are two completely different animals. Running and gunning on the highest difficulty setting will leave you fragged, tagged and tea bagged. With Halo 3: ODST only mere months away, (fuck yes) gamers are getting the impression of a short campaign and they are none too pleased, especially with the “expansion” now garnering a $60 price tag.
Here is a recent interview with the developers giving insight to the campaign. I think the real issue is that no matter how long the campaign, there will be complaints of it being too easy and too short. The problem Bungie faces is that gamers are just way too fucking good at Halo. Take a look at World of Warcraft. The expansion pack was supposed to take months to complete. It took super guilds less than a weekend. Hopefully the landscape of playing as a normal soldier will add some depth and the new Firefight and multiplayer modes will keep us playing until Halo: Reach comes out a year later.
Some things don’t go together. Chinese food and chocolate milk. Fat chicks and bikinis. Mortal Kombat and a T rating. At least Ed Boon can fix one of these. It has been confirmed that MK9 will in fact not be T, but will carry a mature rating. From Ed Boon’s twitter:
“U r absolutely right. People want an M-rated MK….dammit we will give them an M-rated MK,
MK vs DC was not a bad game, but a T rated MK game just did not sit well with a lot of us. MK was what we had back in the day. It was an overly gorish game that parents did not like and we pumped quarters into it. I feel like I got some of my innocence back. Now only if I could block out that summer at sleep-away camp…
Metal Gear Solid 4 is considered by many the best looking video game ever made. Period. The bar has been set for its successor and it seems that now the graphics engine is going to be built from the ground up. Is it because the Xbox 360 can’t handle it? Is it because the engine used in MGS4 was built specifically for the PS3? Either way, they promise it will look even better and still finish on time. We shall see.
Coming Soon!
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