Up late talking games & writing? You're...

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Games: Here's a link to the latest podcast, if you didn't catch it on Twitter or at GameCritics proper. Give it a listen if you're so inclined, and feedback is always welcome.
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Also, I just finished inFamous a few minutes ago... Disappointed. The review is done, and should be posted soon. I'll have a link to it here when it goes live.
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Just a quick obervation: Twitter is already lighting up with tons of E3 news. If you're not already tweeting, it's the best and fastest way to get the scoop on everything that's happening.
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Just sayin'.
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Just a quick one tonight.
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Food: Now that summer is here, it's time again for the wife to get out the grill and start cooking outdoors. She's got a real talent for it, and besides the usual meat-oriented kinds of things, she also does desserts. Tonight she cooked up grilled bananas drizzled with honey, and if you’ve never had grilled bananas, the consistency of the fruit changes quite a bit after it's been sizzling for a few minutes. After cooking, we topped the banana slices with a little bit of Nutella (a chocolate/hazelnut spread) some whipped cream, and some graham cracker crumbles. Pretty damned tasty stuff, if I do say so myself.
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Games: After getting about 2/3rds of the way through inFAMOUS, if not more, I basically wrote my entire review in about forty minutes.
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I'm going to keep pushing forward and finish it off, but I'd be very surprised if anything in this last section really changes my opinion.
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Besides inFAMOUS, I'm putting the finishing touches on my upcoming Crimson Gem Saga review, I've got a few more entries to do for my ‘Best of Community’ feature, and as if all that wasn't enough, I've been toying with the idea of doing the main review for Fallout 3.
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(…And yes, I do know that any potential review would be quite late to the party, but it is a pretty sad state of affairs that we’ve got full reviews for all of the DLC add-ons, but not one for the game proper.)
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Writing: Things are progressing slowly but surely on the new book. Although I've fallen way behind on my daily quota, I think it's still entirely possible to have the whole thing wrapped up and edited well before the end of the year. I hope.
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Other than that, not much to report.
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Games: So, I told myself I wasn't going to plunk the money down after playing the inFAMOUS demo on PSN, but I did. It's just that I've been playing so many RPGs lately that I was starting to burn out of gaming altogether, and I definitely needed something action-oriented to get the juices flowing again. I was weak, I admit it.
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Don't get me wrong, it's not that I thought the demo was terrible, it's just that I expect a great deal from Sly Cooper developer Sucker Punch, and the little bits I saw of their new electricity-themed open-worlder didn't quite click in all the places I thought it should. Still, I've often said that Sucker Punch has never made a bad game and I was definitely willing to give them the benefit of the doubt in this case.
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I wasn't able to put in as many hours tonight as I would have wanted to, but after about 2 1/2 in Empire City, I'm feeling as though my instincts from the demo were correct.
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I'm sure everybody and their brother is already hip to this, but the gist of inFAMOUS is that a bike messenger-type dude is caught in a weird explosion, and ends up with various types of electricity powers as the city itself starts a long, slow slide into hell.
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The game starts off well enough, but at this point I'm feeling like Sucker Punch could have really started the game off a little slower, specifically with respect to character development and story pacing. Things happen pretty quickly, and I'm not quite on board with everything that's going on. For example, in one fast-paced cutscene, a quick line or two details the romantic schism between the main character and his love interest, but it goes by so rapidly and with such little fanfare that I nearly missed it. Beyond that, the main character gets recruited by a government agency pretty much immediately, and from that point on it’s all about doing missions.
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I get that the developer wants to get the player into the game without a lot of downtime, but what I've gotten so far in terms of motivation and development has been pretty thin.
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As for the actual gameplay, I've done a few core missions and four or five side missions. So far it's about what I expected. Everywhere you go, there are a lot of goons that snipe at you from a distance (which is quite irritating) and the game has been emphasizing the main character’s parkour/urban exploration skillz by having him scale every surface like Spider-Man out of costume. No really exceptional missions so far, but then again, I'm just getting started. It's all been fairly combat-oriented, with the character’s electricity basically functioning like any other projectile weapon.
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More thoughts to come as I get further into it, but part of me is already wondering about the different directions that Prototype (the other open-world superhero-ish game coming next month) will take.
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Games: So recently, the discussion of innovation versus presentation has been popping up in regard to various titles. Specifically, how should a critic view a game that makes no attempt at breaking new ground, but instead focuses on delivering a very polished and playable experience?
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Of course, I think the answer certainly depends on who the critic is and what their personal philosophy is composed of. It really couldn't be any other way, could it? That said, I do think it has to be taken into account that the games industry is a large one, and there are players of all stripes within it.
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Keeping this in mind, I think it can be safely assumed that there is room enough for games that push the envelope, as well as those who are content to stay sealed within it.
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The most recent title where this issue popped up was the PSP’s Crimson Gem Saga, released today by RPG uber-publisher Atlus.
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Putting it through its paces, I was immediately struck by the superb production values, as well as the time and attention paid towards the finer details like the menu system, on-screen indicators, and so on. Without a doubt, this is an extremely attractive game, and the developers obviously took their time in crafting it. It's clean, smooth, and quite appealing.
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However, within just a few minutes it's clear to see that Crimson Gem Saga has placed itself firmly within the direct heart of the turn-based RPG genre, and is quite comfortable to be there. Like so many others, the game starts with the hero waking up in bed. Exploring the town, chests in the homes of townsfolk can be plundered, the combat system plays out exactly as one would expect, and thus far, there have been no surprises or unexpected twists.
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Is this necessarily a bad thing? If Crimson Gem Saga had faltered anywhere, I have a feeling that I wouldn't be quite as warm towards it as I am. Fortunately, the game nails every aspect down tight; it's almost a master-class meditation on the true essence of the turn-based RPG.
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From that perspective, I think its simplicity is actually quite appealing, especially in light of the numerous tricks, hooks, gimmicks, and ever-increasingly-elaborate systems that players expect to have to learn before getting into any modern-day Role-Player. (The Japanese sort, anyway…) although there is certainly something to be said for innovation and pushing genres forward, there is such a thing as going too far. Although the JRPG is well overdue for a big shakeup, I have to be perfect honest in saying that the refined and elegant experience in Crimson Gem certainly has appeal.
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I'm not quite far enough along in the game to deliver a review-level judgment, but so far my experience has been quite positive. If you're at all inclined towards indulging in a traditional RPG that's been buffed to a mouth-watering sheen, track down a copy ASAP… you know how quickly Atlus stuff gets scarce.
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Misc: It’s been sort of a busy last few days, but I'm getting some much-needed down time with the family this weekend. We're not doing anything exciting, and we have no plans... just the three of us spending time together and taking it easy.
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Family: Although I realize that probably no one reading this blog actually cares at this point, I do want to give a shout-out to the Kiddopotamus SwaddleMe blanket.
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For those of you without kids, the current thinking is that when babies are born, they are born in a premature state. I'm not talking about babies being “preemies”, but that even when they go full-term and are delivered on time, they still aren't really ready to be out in the world. The theory is that infants really should be in the womb for at least another three months, but if they were, their heads would be so large that they would not be able to fit through the mother's pelvis; hence the reason why they are ejected too soon.
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Anyway, the reason I bring this up is that for the first three months after birth, it's recommended that parents swaddle their children for sleep, meaning that they are wrapped very tightly with a blanket to restrict their movement. At first I thought this sounded kind of harsh, but after seeing how my son flailed and thrashed around in bed (even to the point of waking himself up) the wisdom of swaddling soon became clear.
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However, swaddling a baby is much easier said than done. These little guys have a real talent for slipping out of the blankets, much like miniature Houdinis. Besides that, you have to have a special sort of blanket... not too thick, and large enough to wrap the baby properly while not being so huge that you have eight miles of extra material laying around with a baby at the far corner of it.
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Are you still reading? I haven't bored you to tears and driven you to click away to another page?
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If you're still here, the SwaddleMe gets top marks. It comes in several styles and colors, but the thing that makes it so great is that it's specifically designed to swaddle a baby, with flaps overlapping in a specific order and locking down with swatches of Velcro. Done properly, the little tykes are snug, secure, and very comfortable, and it's a lot easier and more efficient to use than trying to tie a knot in the corner of a wadded-up blanket.
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And yes, that's right... this blog covers games AND parenting tips. How's that for one-stop shopping?
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Games: Been sort of scattered with the gameplay lately… at the moment, I'm still working my way through the excellent CaveIn: Miner Rescue Team on Community, in addition to the also-excellent Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2 - Raidou Kuzunoha vs King Abaddon on PS2. How's that for a title?
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As for the rest of the game tidbits I've got under my belt, I'm saving them up for tomorrow night's podcast recording. We've been on hiatus for a few weeks since both Tim (the show’s host) and I each had newborn sons enter our lives, but now that things have settled down a bit, we're getting right back to it. If everything goes according to plan, it should be posted at GameCritics before too long, and I’ll have a link to it here when it's ready.
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Oh, also… for those who may have missed them, here are a few links to some recently published pieces:
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50 Cent: Blood on the Sand (360) Review
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Mithra: the Calling (360 Community) Review
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Tokyo Beat Down (DS) Review
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Fallout 3: Broken Steel (360) Review
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Valkyria Chronicles: Enter the Edy Detachment! (PS3) Review
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Writing: Not a whole hell of a lot to report right now, except for the fact that I was finally able to spend a little more time working on the new book. It's been tough getting back into gear after taking about three weeks off, but the dust is starting to settle and the itch to get this project wrapped up and into the hands of some test readers is setting in.
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Family: Not too to my own horn or anything, but since Whittaker’s been here, changing diapers has been pretty painless. No big accidents, no fuss... he doesn't even really get upset.
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All that changed tonight.
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Little Whit had been snoozing while the wife and I watched the final episode of Idol, and once the winner was revealed we headed upstairs to get ready to turn in. While the woman was puttering around with one thing or another, she passed the baby off to me for one last diaper change before we hit the sack.
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I've been noticing over the last few days that he usually waits a few minutes after he wakes up before his bodily functions kick in, but I thought I had waited long enough tonight to be in the safe zone. I thought wrong.
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I laid him down the bed and prepped the wipes and the diapers. I've pretty much got this whole process down to a science, and an efficient one at that. Unwrapping him from his swaddling blanket, I pulled off the old, soiled diaper and began to wipe him down. He's been home from the hospital for about two weeks or so, and I've changed diapers multiple times every day since then. Like I said, I've got this process down.
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Today, of all days, the little Velcro strap on the side of the soiled diaper snagged the material of the clean diaper as I was tossing it aside. Absolutely the first time it's ever happened. As I began to separate the two diapers, a little warning bell went off in my head, and it occurred to me that this was the perfect time for things to go wrong, so naturally, they did.
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As I was still trying to get the soiled diaper off of the clean diaper, I heard his little tummy rumbling and I knew something was coming. There weren't any towels or small cloths handy, so I left him on top of his swaddling blanket and tried to will myself into moving faster. (For some bizarre reason, these swaddling blankets have a small hole cut into the back of them. I honestly have no idea what function they serve. a heat vent, maybe?) Anyway, it just so happened that his little bottom was positioned directly over this hole.
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When the stuff started flowing, instead of the blanket catching it, it passed directly on through and onto the bed.
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Dropping the diapers, I tried to wrap the blanket around the mess to minimize the damage, and while I was occupied with that (and failing) his little bladder kicked in and he shot upwards, hosing down me, the parts of the bed that his poop didn't hit, and his own head.
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Trying to do damage control, I let go of the blanket and tried to block the urine, but all that happened was that his little bottom fell directly into the poop, smushing it all around. Whit started crying, the bed was a disaster, and I decided to take the kid and run to the bathroom.
The wife helped me get him clean with an impromptu bath and we had to swap sheets afterwards… not exactly the quick diaper change I was expecting before turning in, but I guess parenthood is full of little surprises like this, right?
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Good times.
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Games: Since the super-nifty dee-luxe Devil Summoner 2 package (scroll down for the pic) got me in the mindframe for extra bonus-type stuff, I thought I'd put out word for the soundtrack and art book that comes with a preorder for Atlus’ Knights in the Nightmare for DS.
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If you’re already buying Atlus stuff then I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir here, but it never hurts to make sure, right?
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Anyway, I haven't had a chance to hear the soundtrack yet, but I did take a look at the art book and it's pretty sweet. Titled the Tome of Lost Souls, it's pretty close to a hundred pages of character portraits, profiles, sketches, and notes from the designers. Although I'm not absolutely sure, it seems to me as though the artists that worked on KitN are some of the same ones that helped bring Riviera and Yggdra Union to life. (And if you haven’t played either of those, you’re missing out…)
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Besides the fact that it's chock-full of attractive illustrations, completists and super-fans will want to make sure to snag a copy since the book gives comprehensive lists of each knight in the game, which order they belong to, and other facts like age, race, and class. If nothing else, it's a great companion piece to the game and a pretty nifty source of reference material.
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The game comes out June 2, so you've still got time if you haven't put your $5 down yet.
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(Oh, and a top-secret bonus tip from me to you: if you have a copy of Yggdra Union for GBA and insert it into the cart slot at the same time Knights in the Nightmare is inserted, Princess Yggdra will pop up during the tutorial, and Pamela will appear at various portions during the game. You heard it here first!)
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Games: I'm still compiling my list of the best Community games, and even though I've already taken a quick look at just about every one of them, I went back through again to make sure I didn't miss anything and I've got to say, the quality of these Community titles has really improved quite a bit since the service first launched.
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Of course, it goes without saying that quite a few of these are either complete ripoffs of other titles, pieces of crapware that barely hold together, or both. However, if you take the time to sift through all of the coal, there are certainly more than a few diamonds to be found. For example: CaveIn: Miner Rescue Team.
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I admit that I expected to play it for a minute or two and then quickly delete it, but the quality and ingenious design were impossible not to notice. I played through the trial period and popped for the full version immediately.
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Basically, you play as a miner rescuing your fellows but the twist is that each area in the subterranean tunnels is laid out like a puzzle, quite similar to something like The Adventure of Lolo (for you old-schoolers out there.) Boulders come in various colors and can be eliminated by matching three, but each room is a little different. Some have you simply eliminating boulders. Others have you pathfinding through dark areas, using dynamite (pretty big blast radius there... watch out) or doing other things that keep the formula feeling really fresh. Although I haven't seen very much of the game so far, I was instantly hooked. Expect to see this one on the best-of list, for sure.
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In the meantime, I'm still taking suggestions and nominations for the best of Community, so keep ‘em coming!
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Hey All -
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I'm going to be putting together a 'Best of Community' post covering the cream of the 360's Community archives. If you've got a good game you'd like to see given some spotlight, LMK via a comment down below, a tweet, or an email.
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Thanks!
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Games: In between projects at the moment, I spent most of my game time today (which was not much) checking out the various Community games I've downloaded over the last few weeks.
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Every Wednesday when I check out the new stuff on Live, I make a point of looking at the new Community offerings and queue up the trials for a day just like today when I want to play something, but I'm not quite ready to commit to something substantial. Anyway, I think I tried something like ten or twelve different titles, and only one of them was worth a damn.
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Called Trino, you take on the role of a small, aquatic-looking life form that creates triangles in space. The point of it is to trap enemy creatures within the triangles to earn power ups and move on. It's sort of half-puzzle, half-action, and it has a very polished and ‘complete’ feeling to it. I didn't spend a lot of time on it, but I paid for the download happily and I'll be getting to it in short order.
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Check the video here for a visual.
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Games: I finally unlocked the hidden mission in Behind Her Blue Flame, one of the DLC missions for Valkyria Chronicles.
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(And if you haven't bought VC yet, exactly what the hell are you waiting for? It's $30 brand-new and outstanding.)
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Although I dislike the way the game assigns rankings based on speed of completion and nothing else, I was compelled to keep pushing through since I had heard that the final section features enemy general Selvaria with full use of her Valkyrur powers. If you've played the game, then you know how awesome that is. If you haven't, trust me when I say that she is a one-woman wrecking machine.
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At this point I'd actually like to say that the payoff was worth the effort, but that would not be quite accurate. Although it was a bit of a rush to get to play with the big guns, the level itself is actually quite boring, and the amount of restarts and aggravation needed to get there were pretty significant. I'm glad I did just because I'm such a Valkyria fan, but in all honesty, it was more trouble than it was worth.
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Games: At long last, I finally got the chance to play Onechanbara Bikini Samurai Squad on the 360. If you haven't heard of the game, here is in a nutshell: girls in bikinis, swords, and zombies. It practically sells itself, right? At least, the concept does…
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After popping in and turning it on, it took me about ten or twelve minutes to decide that it was complete crap. The graphics are atrocious, the level of sophistication is quite primitive, and I saw absolutely nothing that convinced me in the slightest that this game would be worth even a cursory play-through. In all honesty, it was one of those titles that screams ‘steaming pile’ from the get-go.
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It's unfortunate because I could really get behind a title with such an offbeat premise, but the fact remains that for any game, no matter the content, there's got to be a certain level of expectation. In the case of Onechanbara, there was a giant, black sucking hole where the quality should be.
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Games: A quick heads-up to you SMT fans out there… Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs King Abaddon just came out, and the deluxe package is awesome:
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The game, a Raiho demon plushie, and a super-cool looking box. It’s so sweet I don’t really want to open it, but since I loved the last Devil Summoner, I’m-a gonna have to. Go out and get yours yesterday… you know how fast the good Atlus stuff goes.
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Writing: I haven't written a word in the new novel since about a week before my son Whittaker was born. I'm feeling vaguely guilty about having fallen so far behind in my daily word quota, but between taking time out for my new baby boy and giving my co-author little extra time to take care of a few things he needs to get to, putting it on pause is really the only thing to do.
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Still feel guilty, though.
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Anyway, I'm not avoiding writing entirely. Instead of pouring my usual effort into the book, I decided to spend some of these recent late nights catching up on my game reviewing. At the moment, I've got Whit on my left arm and a cup of tea in my right (black, honey and cream), and I'm dictating with the help of a speech program and headset. Knocked out three quick ones so far...
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What can I say? I like to use my time effectively.
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Games: Anyone who reads this blog or follows me at GameCritics knows that I have a great appreciation for indie games. Small, interesting, and innovative are things that I can appreciate, so today I've got some scoop on an upcoming title that should be worth keeping an eye on:
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Grapple Buggy, coming from Nathan Fouts over at Mommy’s Best Games.
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The mad genius behind one of my favorite Community games (Weapon of Choice) the pictures and trailer show that GB is mining the same sort of gonzo, over-the-top gameplay gold, and honestly, I can't wait.
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Taken directly from the press release:
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>Sumptuous blend of buggy-driving craziness and grapple swinging glee!
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>Upgrade your buggy with new wheels, jumping abilities, and devastating new grapple arms!
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>Fight or befriend—explore VALD-END to encounter both terrifying xenofauna and sentient aliens!
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>Features dynamic decision branching, and multiple, story-driven endings!
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Check the video, scope the pics, and know that without having played even a moment of it, I'm quite ready to lay down cash on faith that Nathan will deliver the goods.
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Keep your eyes peeled, and for more on Nathan and his past work, click here.
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Games: An excellent example of a demo that fulfills its purpose by getting players interested in the full retail release, the playable snippet of Red Faction: Guerrilla is pretty fantastic.
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Quite honestly, I had no intention of giving the game any space on my to-play list-- I didn't care for the previous RF games, and from the screenshots and press coverage I've seen so far, it looked like basically more of the same from a franchise that had very little cachet. However, upon actually giving it a try, I was quite surprised at how quickly I got sucked in.
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The switch from first-person to third gives the game a different feel than its predecessors (and seriously, if the entire industry took a break from first-person for a while, I’d be TOTALLY fine with that) and the destructible environments were a real hoot. After making my way to a garage and liberating one of the giant construction mechas housed there, bashing cars, crashing through entire buildings and wreaking havoc on everything in my path was about ten times more amusing than I would have anticipated.
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Great job on that demo, Volition… you nailed it. If the rest of the game is as well-done, I'll definitely be signing up for some time on the Red Planet.
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Games: I had originally intended on doing a full review of Ultor Exposed, the new (and extremely late to the party) DLC for Saints Row 2, but after having completed it last night, I'm going to skip the official writeup and just post a few quick thoughts here. (Oddly enough, it's also from Volition... interesting coincidence, non?)
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In a nutshell, this DLC contains six new vehicles, a new minigame twist to the co-op, a few new pieces of clothing and some hairstyles to go along with them, a couple of new multiplayer maps and three story-based missions. Although it sounds like a pretty good amount of content on paper, I definitely didn't feel like I got my $10 worth.
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Since I polished off the game the week it came out, I had basically no interest in revisiting it for the co-op portions. The clothing and hairstyles aren’t interesting enough to be worth mentioning in any detail, and the aspect I was most interested in-- the story missions-- are so short and shoddy that Volition should be a little embarrassed.
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I guess the main draw to these three missions is that they feature porn actress Tera Patrick. I can't say that I'm a fan of hers so the fact that she was present meant basically nothing to me, although I do find it somewhat humorous to note that her in-game model looks pretty horrific. Juicy porn star? More like facially-deformed hairless ape.
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Patrick aside, each mission feels slapped together and the lot of them can be completed in less than an hour. They offer no new interesting twists on gameplay that can’t already be found in the retail version, and for whatever reason, the framerate constantly drops and the game starts to chug when there's more than a couple cars onscreen. It was borderline unplayable in a few instances, causing me more aggravation than anything else.
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Although I'm generally a fan of DLC that extends the life of games I even halfway enjoyed, I really can't recommend Ultor Exposed to anyone.
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The verdict: skip it.
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Trying to get back in the habit of posting every other day, but haven't quite found the groove yet… for now, just some quickies:
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Misc: Whittaker and Mommy are both doing excellent, although I think everybody here at the homestead is feeling a wee bit rough around the edges. Enervation aside, Whit's got a great appetite and looks fantastic, and the woman is a role model for new mothers everywhere. Family Happy Get!
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Misc: Still about 150 e-mails before I get current… everybody please bear with me. ^_^
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Games: Spent a little time with the Valkyria Chronicles DLCs, Enter the Edy Detachment! And Behind Her Blue Flame.
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Edy wasn't bad. A little short maybe, but it starred most of the offbeat characters I liked in the main game. Seeing more of them was a good thing.
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Blue Flame was kind of pissing me off… it's neat to be able to play as the enemy side, but one big issue I have with Valkyria in general is that a player’s performance ranking is based solely on speed of completion and nothing else.
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By nature, I'm a very cautious and methodical SRPG player, so trying to go for speed is something that does not come naturally to me. I don't enjoy it. I was quite content to finish levels with ‘D’ rankings in Valkyria’s story mode since I played it my way and never lost a teammate, but it's known that there is a secret level in Blue Flame that's only accessible by getting ‘A’ ranks in the three missions before it.
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It feels incredibly unnatural and unpleasant to break out of my normal SRPG play style in an effort to see this secret level, but I wasn't doing a very good job of it. After ‘A’ ranking the first bit, I was encountering significant frustration with the next and had to step away from it and give my blood pressure a break. I’ll come back to it later, but this was a poor way to close out my otherwise-exemplary Valkyria experience.
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Look for full reviews coming soon, BTW.
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After (temporarily) jumping ship from Blue Flame, I moved on to Fallout 3’s Broken Steel. Didn't get very far in this long-awaited bit of DLC, but if nothing else, it was worth $10 to finally be able to get an ending to the main storyline that made sense.
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No spoilers for people who haven't played Fallout 3 yet, but in my opinion the original ending was not only completely unsatisfactory, but illogical and poorly plotted as well.
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Kudos to Bethesda for being willing to rewrite history in this particular instance, and admitting that they biffed it the first time around.
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More to come.
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Misc: So, after long last, a proper update on the situation:
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After a long pregnancy that seemed like it would never end, my son Whittaker Rana Gallaway was born on May 4.
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Vital stats: 8lbs 1oz, 20.5 inches long, and his skills are Charm, Nuzzle and Sleep. Not bad for a level one character, eh?
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Now that he’s out of the womb complete with ten fingers and ten toes, the wife and I couldn't be happier, although the cliché about being insanely tired after a birth is true. Not only is the process physically rough on both mother and child, babies run on an opposite clock -- sleepy and quiet during the day, fidgety and needing extra attention at night. Although it probably made a lot of sense from an evolutionary perspective back when the species was still avoiding sabertooth tigers and giant cave bears, it's not much of an advantage these days.
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…Needless to say, this little level one character cast a level ten Fatigue on his mommy and daddy, and we’re just now shaking it off thanks in large part to the mother-in-law, who brought a purse-full of Remedy with her when she came to visit.
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Despite this joyous, incredibly happy and absolutely welcome event that overshadowed everything else in our lives, it's true that time waits for no one -- while we were stumbling around in a daze changing diapers and looking for clean swaddling blankets, my email box swelled up to over 350 messages needing a look-see. If you've sent me a message and haven't heard back, I'm only just now starting to wade through the deluge. Besides letting electronic communications go by the wayside (except for Twitter, which I could do in mobile fashion with one hand while juggling things in the other) all game reviews, work on the new book, and Coffeecola updates came to a bleary-eyed halt. However, after being home for a couple of days, it feels as though things are on the upswing. I expect a somewhat-normal work routine to take hold imminently -- starting back up on caffeine has helped a great deal.
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(I gave it up in addition to a few other things in a show of solidarity for the wife who was abstaining while Whittaker was in utero, but now that the embargo on potentially-harmful foodstuffs has been lifted, let the coffee overdose jitters commence.)
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Taking care of a little housekeeping before getting back to Coffeecola business, I'd like to say thank you to @genepark, @crystal_murray, @nightdreamer, @benmoraes, @finalmacstorm, @donaldtaylorii, @articulateink, @colonelt, @daleweir, @jkarney, @jenjeahaly, @roguemovement, @zolos, @leadbelly666, and @edgeone for sending messages of congratulation via Twitter. (Did I miss anyone?) Also, thanks to everyone who sent in messages via email… you’ll hear from me soon.
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Games: Although I'm not up to full speed, here are some tidbits to tide regular Coffeecola readers over until the next update…
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>Valkyria Chronicles (PS3): Still playing, still loving. I'm really thinking that this is the best PS3 exclusive out there, and even after putting over twenty hours into the main campaign, it still feels interesting, fresh, and exciting. It’s absolutely, totally recommended, and I'm thrilled that I have a few pieces of add-on DLC waiting for me (Edy’s and Blue Flame) after credits roll.
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>Red Dead Redemption (multi): Although the original was flawed, it was a hell of a lot of fun and took a pretty good stab at doing justice to the underserved Western genre. I just caught the trailer for the sequel and I’m feeling pretty psyched.
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>Bayonetta (multi): I get that the main character is a witch who has guns on her shoes, but it's a little impossible not to think that this is a recycled Devil May Cry with a gender switch and a storyline that seems to have a little bit of absurdity to it. Call me crazy, but after watching the storyline trailer available now, I couldn't help but sense echoes of God Hand. Anyone agree?
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>Bionic Commando (multi): I'm still pretty excited for the current-gen remake of the NES classic, but the multiplayer demo currently available left me pretty cold. I get that traditional multi (as in, not co-op) is still important to a lot of folks, but to be perfectly honest, in a title like this, I couldn't care less. For the purposes of getting me excited about the impending release, this demo was a total fail.
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>Cho Aniki (Wii Virtual Console): After reading about it for (literally) years and seeing it held up as one of the ultimate examples of eccentric Japanese game design weirdness, I was more than a little amazed to see that it was available for download to the Wii. I ponied up the 700 points immediately, but haven't started it up yet. I think I may be slightly afraid.
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>Misc DLC: I haven’t had much time for DLC/add-ons given the circumstances, but I've been keeping my eye on what's been coming down the pipe. Expect to see updates or at least brief mentions on the recently-released content for The Maw, Saints Row 2, and of course, Fallout 3. To be perfectly honest, I'm absolutely dying to start Fallout’s Broken Steel add-on, but Valkyria Chronicles is so good that I feel like I'd be doing a disservice to put it on hold, especially since I'm so close to the end. The wasteland is just going to have to wait for a little while longer.
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That's it for tonight. Thanks for your patience during Coffeecola’s hiatus, there’ll be more to come soon. For now, I'm going to go snuggle with my wonderful wife and amazing little boy.
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Apologies for the lack of updates. If you've been following me on Twitter, then you already know why. If you haven't: my new son Whittaker was just born a few days ago, and the wife and I have been adjusting to life with a new baby in the house. Hizzouse, if you prefer.
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I've been meaning to post some pics and give a full rundown, but haven't quite found the time... hopefully tomorrow will be the day. If you've sent me an email and haven't got a response, hang in there just a little longer-- with any luck, I'll be able to catch up on correspondence, reviews, and hopefully a bit of fiction in the morning when the mother-in-law shows up to lend a hand.
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For now, a few whours of uninterrupted sleep would be good enough.
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Games: Scanning Twitter today, it occurred to me that if all the Pre-E3 rumors about Microsoft and Sony developing motion controllers/devices turn out to be true, then it’ll be a massive case of misguidedly missing the point in both instances.
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If these whisperings do pan out, it seems obvious that the only reason they’d be pursuing such technology is a direct result of the massive retail success of the Wii as a console. However, I think that trying to emulate such success is impossible -- In my view, the Wii sold such absurd numbers of units based on three factors: the novelty of the motion controls, being the cheapest console out of the current three, and being able to leverage both of those qualities (in addition to the Nintendo name) into a fearsome “cool factor”. The thought that adding motion controls to the existing consoles might be enough to translate into attracting new “Wii” players is absurd.
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It's not as if people walk into an electronics store, and evaluate all three consoles and select the Wii because it delivers more accurate control or quality gameplay experiences that can't be replicated with a standard pad. They buy it because it's The Wii. If the Wii hadn’t come along, those same people probably wouldn't even consider buying a console at all.
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I absolutely admit that Nintendo played a smart game and captured mindshare not only of core audiences, but of people who weren't likely to be interested in videogames in general. That was their strategy from the start, and it worked brilliantly. However, I really believe that we are on the tail edge of the Wii bubble.
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Any success based on a fad doesn’t last, and while the Wii itself isn’t quite a fad in the truest sense, its meteoric popularity is unsustainable.
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Kids who want one likely have one, and don't have much buying power. Adults who were interested in its “IT” quality bought one, will drag out Wii Sports on the weekends and may play Wii Fit once in a while, but probably won't translate into the kind of game-buying customer that industry thrives on-- especially with the amount of highly questionable shovelware that uninformed consumers will have a hard time filtering through. Serious gamers already have one alongside their 360s and PS3s, will play it when AAA titles come out, but are likely unimpressed with the quality and selection of software available.
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The Wii was a case of superb marketing, impeccable timing, and being able to position itself as something that appeals to people who are traditionally not within the gaming sphere, but as a lifelong gamer, it leaves me absolutely unsatisfied and hungry for experiences that I can only find on the competitors’ machines. Besides that, I find the waggling of the Wiimote to be annoying, and it remains to this day little more than a gimmick that feels shoehorned into a lot of places where it doesn't belong. The thought of new PS3 and 360 games going down this imprecise, waggly path is more than a little depressing.
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I've said this before and I'll say it again-- with the exceptions of the Trauma Center series and light-gun style shooters, I have yet to see a single Wii game that seems superior with motion controls. I mean, let's be honest here... Pretty much any game the Wiimote does could be done equally well or better with a regular pad.
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Time will tell whether Sony and Microsoft participate in some reactionary keeping-up-with-the-Joneses, but I'm really not looking forward to having to jerk my controller in an upward motion to make Master Chief jump, or shaking it furiously to recharge my guns in the next installment of Ratchet & Clank.
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I get quite enough of that nonsense already, thanks.
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It's late, I'm tired, and if you sent me e-mail and I haven't responded, just know that it's been a heck of a week.
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Games: Although I usually have nothing but good to say about Xbox Live, there's one thing that's really been irritating the hell out of me lately.
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Every Wednesday or so, I look forward to jumping online with each console and seeing what new DLC is available. I try my best to keep up with it, at the very least keeping tabs on things that look interesting if I don't have the time to play them that very second. The Wii’s setup works just fine, and although the PSN isn’t structured exactly how I'd like it, it's still not bad. Live used to be my hands-down favorite in terms of finding new DLC easily, but when it comes to the Add-Ons area, I'm sick and tired of new music-game DLC flooding the section and pushing other content out.
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In the New Xbox Experience, each section can only hold so many titles before the old ones get pushed off and you need to go digging in the ‘browse everything’ area in the hopes of finding out what's new. Ideally, you'd only need to go to the recently-released area to see the new arrivals, but there is SO MUCH music-game related stuff every week that it clutters up the menu and I'm often left wondering if I've missed something. However, with no clue what I may or may not have missed, I can’t exactly start scrolling through the entire alphabet of 360 titles hoping to randomly notice something that's new.
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Microsoft, do me a favor and condense all of the music-game stuff into individual icons. For example, if there are fourteen new Lips songs released, you don't need to give each song its own individual listing. Just put one general Lips icon in the new release list, and then expand it if someone actually clicks on it. It would save time, it would save space, and I don't know about other players, but I know I'd definitely appreciate actually seeing everything that's new when I go to the ‘what’s new’ area.
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Misc: Just saw Walking with Dinosaurs tonight at the Key Arena. It's sort of a long story as to how I got the chance to see the show, but I never turn down free tickets if I get the chance, and although it was certainly slanted towards younger viewers, it was still pretty interesting.
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I had never heard of it before last week, but evidently it's based on a BBC series. Basically, the gist of the show is that there’s a paleontologist who shares facts and information about dinosaurs with the audience while life-sized, very realistic (?) dinosaur mockups roam the floor mock-fighting each other and mugging for the audience.
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If you're sitting in seats that are significantly above the floor, the scale of the models gets lost. However, if you are closer to the actual stage, the size of these things is pretty amazing. Though the supporting mechanisms underneath the bodies of the dinosaurs are pretty hard to ignore, the work done in creating these beasts is pretty superb. The movement and skin elasticity is quite convincing, and if you squint just right it's not too hard to imagine one of these giant reptiles lumbering around as if it were real.
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I heard the ticket prices are a little insane, but if you’ve got a little one or you are a dinosaur fan yourself, it might be worth checking out. If nothing else, I guarantee that the dinos will look a lot more real than you'd imagine. Take a peek.
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