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

Games: Started the infamous Deadly Premonition a few days ago. I'm still really early, probably somewhere in the five-hour ballpark, but I'm definitely far enough along to say that I think most of the critics who passed judgment on it really didn't get it.


I'm not going to go into too much detail at this point since there is still a lot to see and I definitely want to compare notes with people on a few things, but I will recommend that anyone with even a passing curiosity in the title read my fellow critic Dan Weissenberger’s epic take on it. Click HERE to read his opinion on the game, and know that I basically say ‘ditto’ to just about all of his conclusions.

I will absolutely be talking more about this game in the future, but for right now I do know that I am enjoying it a great deal, I find it quite utterly fascinating in several regards, and I would highly recommend anyone with an interest in alternative titles or unconventional game design pick up a copy immediately. At $20 brand-new, I daresay it will be a much better value for people interested in exploring the fringe than just about anything else on shelves this year.


Games: While I don't usually use the blog as a straight-up PR tool, I'm going to bend that rule tonight for two reasons: the first is that I’m frickin’ tired and it's easier to cut and paste a link than it is to come up with effervescent material off the cuff. The second is that I'm actually genuinely excited for both of the following titles, and I've got a feeling that each one is going to need every bit of coverage they can possibly get.

Trailer A: Battle vs. Chess. I talked about this title in my PAX 2010 coverage, but in case you missed it, this game is basically classic chess at its core. However, there are a number of tweaks that make it much more interesting than the standard video chess game.


For example, there is a modes that lets players have pieces fight in real time to defend their squares. There's also a mode that sets the pieces up on the board randomly, and the campaign mode is made up of chess puzzles taken from real-life matches between expert players. I have a great affection for chess even though I completely suck at it, so the unique video game spin on this timeless formula is looking pretty damn irresistible to me right now.

Trailer B: Section 8: Prejudice. If you were one of the many players who missed out on Section 8 the first time, then you really missed out. Although it wasn't perfect, this first-person sci-fi shooter had some great ideas and was a hell of a lot of fun to play. The ability to employ a jet pack during combat opened up a lot of possibilities, and the multiplayer mode was fairly unique. Besides the standard "kill everybody who's not on your team" goal, there were several in-match mini-goals which players could pursue that didn't really have anything to do with directly opposing the other team. Things like capturing AI- generated VIPs, or taking care of timebombs which would appear randomly.


The feeling of being on a busy, active battlefield with tons of things going on at once was a great one, so I'm very curious to see what the developers will have to bring to the table in this recently-announced sequel. (Of course, that's beside the fact that I don't think anyone, myself included, actually expected a sequel.) Very, very interested in this one.


Games: After going through the stuff I brought back from PAX, I realized I had enough to give away. Here's what's on hand:

Pack #1 – A D&D comic from IDW, a Dragon Age inflatable spear, and a 5-button set for Valkyria Chronicles 2.

Pack #2 - A Super Meat Boy comic, a Dragon Age inflatable spear, and a 5-button set for Valkyria Chronicles 2.

Pack #3 – two sets of Valkyria Chronicles 2 buttons. (Both identical.)

If you're interested in any of these packs, leave a comment, pick Pack 1, 2, or 3 and tell me what you think the best game of the year is that nobody’s been paying attention to. In other words, what's the best underrated game you’ve played so far in 2010? I will put the name of everybody who enters into a hat, pick a random winner and send this stuff out. If nobody enters, I guess I'll just throw it out…


Writing: So, I've just been e-mailing with the co-author of the book I just finished, and at this particular point in time it seems like everything is completely done on our end. We're going to send it in to have it properly formatted and the publisher will be launching it online quite soon. At this particular second, I don't have any information on exactly which sites it will be available or what the pricing will be, but I will pass it along as soon as I know for sure. Stay tuned!

Family: I don't talk about my kids all that much here at Drinking Coffeecola, not because I'm some sort of neglectful dude, but because I feel like they’re entitled to as much privacy as possible until they’re old enough to make a choice about whether they want to be "on the Internet" or not. That said, I do love them like crazy and every once in a while I'll mention a little something...

Regular readers here will know that I have two boys, only one of which lives with me full-time. The other is my oldest, and he lives pretty far away for most of the year, so our usual method of contact has been via his ‘other-home’ phone. This year the wife and I felt like he was old enough to give having his own cell phone a try, so we went out and got him one of those pay-as-you-go jobbies. I figured if he didn't actually use it, or if he couldn't take care of it, then we weren’t going to be locked into any kind of monthly fee.


Anyway, he took to it like a fish to water and showed us that he was extremely capable of using it responsibly. As a result, we've been keeping him stocked up on minutes, and he's practically a cell phone pro now. He's been sending me texts pretty regularly, which is really cool, but even better is that every once in a while he'll just randomly call me out of the blue.

It may not sound like a big deal to a lot of people, but if you ever find yourself ending up on the non-custodial side of a separation or divorce proceeding, little things like this become infinitely valuable. Going from having a child in the house every day to only seeing them three times a year is a fundamentally life-altering experience, and the kind of simple phone call that most people take for granted everyday is incredibly precious to me.


I actually didn't intend to talk about this topic tonight, but just as I was about to begin writing today's blog, the son called me up just to chat. No reason. He didn't need anything, wasn’t asking for anything. He just called because he wanted to talk to his dear old dad. I can't even put into words what a great feeling that was, so I guess I just spent about 400 of them in a vain attempt.


Games: I was putting some time into a game I’m going to be reviewing soon, and I got to a point (about halfway) when I just felt no desire at all to keep going. So, instead of suffering through hours of boredom and apathy, I just stopped.

As a reviewer, I used to think that I needed to roll credits on every game that I wrote about, but I let go of that notion some time ago. There were just too many games that ran for too many hours without any good reason to do so, and there were also too many games that just weren't interesting or enjoyable. They just were. I eventually came to the conclusion that if a game wasn't able to keep my attention, then that was a statement worth making about the game overall.

I feel pretty good about this philosophy and it works well for me, but every once in a while I like to do a little reality check on myself to make sure I'm not coloring too far outside the lines. If you follow me on Twitter, then you probably saw me asking a question like this:

Would you characterize a game as “average quality” if it wasn't fun/engaging/interesting enough to keep your attention and motivate you to finish it?

It's granted that Twitter is not exactly the best place to have in-depth discussions and I probably could have phrased the question a little more clearly, but this wasn't any kind of scientific experiment and I was in search of some quick feedback.

Whatever.

So here's what I was getting at: In a nutshell, GameCritics uses the full 10-point scale. A score of 1 would be something that was atrociously bad, a score of 5 would be right in the middle, neither terrible nor commendable, and (of course) a 10 would be something you'd try to convince your grandma to play because it would just make her life that much better. We use *all* the numbers.

NEEDZ MOAR EXSITEMENT!!!

As I was playing this review game, I started to try and mentally place it on that scale. It wasn't broken and it wasn't terrible, but I did find it tedious enough that I did not want to finish -- that's a pretty big negative in my book, but then I started to wonder what other people's perceptions might be. Was I out of line in thinking that an ‘average quality’ game should at least be good enough to keep someone's attention until the end? If I gave this particular game a 5, would that be too high, since I was absolutely not going to put in the time to complete it?

Like I said, I put the question to Twitter and here's what I found:


14 people said an ‘average’ game should keep a player's attention until the end.

5 people said an ‘average’ game should not be expected to keep a player's attention until the end.

3 people mentioned suffering from ‘game ADD’ as the reason for stopping a game, although they might return to it later. (I would actually challenge this by saying that if the game was interesting enough in the first place, then you wouldn't be distracted by something else, but that's a debate for another time.)

1 person was undecided.

Richard Naik did not answer the question.


According to my totally empirical and unimpeachable results, it seems like most of the smart, attractive and charming people who follow me share my view that a totally average game should at least be good enough to make you want to roll credits on it.

However, this begs the question about the other side. I'm actually quite fascinated as to why some people didn't feel that it should be expected for an average title to be good/interesting/fresh enough to keep someone playing from start to finish.

I can think of a few reasons off the top of my head, but rather than feed myself an answer that may or may not be correct, I would very much like to hear from anyone who takes the view opposite to my own. If you are a person who thinks an average game doesn't need to be good enough to motivate you until the end, please leave a comment and let me know why!

(Although if you just want to comment and agree with me, that's alright too.)

Another year, another great PAX.


If you've never been to the Penny Arcade Expo, it's debatably the best gathering to celebrate videogames and videogame culture on earth. E3 might win out in terms of sheer size, number of parties, and the incredible quantity of games on display, but PAX has never attempted to be direct competition. Instead, this convention focuses more on the gamers themselves, and in doing so, has become the preeminent place to be a gamer.


I've been to PAX several times, and every year it just gets better… and bigger. It's literally impossible for one man to cover the entire show, so I'm not even going to try that. Instead, I'll talk about what I saw and tell you what I thought, and hopefully that will be enough to pique your interest for the length of this article.

Maybe you'll even be interested enough to go next year.

(Before going on, I would first like to thank my wonderful gamer wife Gina and my little boy, Whittaker. I feel incredibly blessed that I was able to attend this event as a unit with my family, and that I did not need to leave my loved ones behind. Not everyone can say that, and as a gamer who’s also a dad and husband, I'm certainly aware of how lucky I am.)

So, PAX…



Walking the show floor, I was struck by two ‘social’ things; the first was that there seemed to be an extremely healthy number of girls and families attending, in addition to the usual mob of sweaty single dudes.

I'm really not that old, but I suppose I am in relation to how many new gamers are entering the fold. “Back in my day”, a convention of this sort would have been overwhelmingly male, with the only females in sight (and on-site) being PR reps or bored, disaffected girlfriends dragged along by their inattentive partners. That's just not true anymore.


I spent more than a bit of time people-watching, and I was continually impressed with the sheer number of girls who were there of their own accord. They were playing kiosks, they were making game-trivia jokes, they were buying used cartridges -- they were just being gamers. I can't even begin to express how overwhelmingly positive a shift this is.

The same went for families. Seeing babies and small kids (like mine) has been generally unheard of, but I was constantly seeing moms and dads with baby carriers strapped to their fronts and backs. There were a fair number of toddlers running up and down the aisles, and plenty of parents accompanying older kids as well. In other situations, I can say with first-hand experience that announcing yourself as a parent who plays games is analogous to pulling down your pants and announcing to the room that you have anal warts. Here at PAX, being a parent AND a game player is just the next normal phase of life.

The other ‘social’ thing that occurred to me was how fundamentally Twitter has changed the nature of networking and meeting people.


Although I've attended PAX several years in a row, 2010 was the best because I had friends in (literally) every corner of the building thanks to following and being followed. Although this was the first time I had met most of these people in person, they certainly weren't strangers and it was a lot less awkward than walking up to someone cold and trying to start a conversation.

Morning, noon, and night, Twitter provided constant access to the goings-on of people that I wanted to know about, and I was able to share tidbits of my day with them as well. It was incredibly easy to coordinate lunchtime meetings and evening plans. If I was somewhere and put out a tweet asking if anyone was in the area, there would inevitably be at least one or two people who could come over to say hi.


As an even better example, GameCritics teamed up with Gladriel to host a tweetup at the Cheesecake Factory restaurant directly across from the convention center. Thanks to this electronic network, we gathered an eclectic bunch who likely would have never sat down with each other to share a meal under any other circumstances. It was a similar situation at the Sega party later on -- there were plenty of people I knew of tangentially, but thanks to the tweets, seeing some of these people face-to-face for the first time was like meeting old friends.

I don't mean to be a Twitter evangelist, but the service has done wonders to turn a traditionally forum/IM-oriented circle into something that's alive, vibrant, and immediate. I can say with complete confidence that if you are not already on Twitter and using it faithfully, you are missing out.


While PAX doesn't boast an exhibition floor as gargantuan as E3’s, it can certainly hold its own. With display spaces packed to the gills with upcoming games and vendors, there’s still plenty to see, and it takes quite a bit of time to get through it all. That said, in terms of quality I’d have to say that (in general) the selection was a bit lacking. I don't think it has anything to do with PAX itself; I took the uninspiring software and predictable entries to be more indicative of the industry overall. Still, there are things to talk about…

Biggest surprise – Mortal Kombat. If you had asked me before the show, I would've told you that MKII was the last time anyone gave a damn about it, including myself. After today, I suspect that might change.

Taking a cue from Street Fighter’s back-to-its-roots reinvention, the developers of Mortal Kombat have apparently decided that it's time to drop all the goofiness and stupidity that has infiltrated the franchise over the years. Rather than being another parody of itself, this new iteration was dark, brutal, and unbelievably gory – even for a Mortal Kombat.

The crowd around the kiosks was electric, gathering around to whoop and cheer with each Fatality more explicit than the last. The dissections and decapitations weren't limited to the end of each round, though. During the fight, there were frequent CSI-style close-ups and X-ray views of internal damage being wrought. It was brutal stuff.

With redesigned characters, a roster that seems to include all of the fan favorites, and (apparently) limiting combat to a strictly 2D plane, this might just be the return to form that the series has badly needed for so long.


Most Improved – While I enjoyed Dragon Age: Origins, I will be the first to say that it needed a lot of work. The story carried me through, but I didn't care for the combat and the graphics/presentation was sorely lacking. I was fortunate enough to be able to talk with some of the developers and take part in a brief fifteen minute demo of Dragon Age 2 at PAX, and while there are still some question marks about the final product, my initial impression is that this sequel is a top-to-bottom renovation in every way. It looked so good, in fact, that I really don't think I'd be able to go back to the first game now.

The biggest shift in the formula is that combat now takes place in real time for whichever character is currently under the player's control. All of the same menus, options, and strategy are still there -- the only difference is that rather than selecting a power or ability, the player presses a button and the action happens at that exact second. It may be a bit of a shock to some people, but after having seen it in action, I would definitely agree with the developers that this was a better way to go.

Dragon Age lead writer David Gaider - A supremely friendly fellow!

The Other Stuff – Tron Evolution: The Video Game was looking pretty good. Although the developers have apparently not had much time to put the game together, what they have done is quite respectable. The neon world and light cycles return, but the game now features a surprising parkour element with the main character performing wall-runs and some platforming maneuvers. Also interesting to note is that the feature film in theaters will use sections of the game for certain flashback sequences, and the continuity between the two is canon. (Unfortunately, the developer I spoke with dismissed any possible link between Tron Evolution and Tron 2.0. I can't say that was expected, but I'm still a bit disappointed.)


Front Mission: Evolved - Taking a detour from every other FM game ever created, this new installment bears more than a passing resemblance (i.e.- almost exactly like) the Armored Core series by FromSoft. In fact, if I had to describe it, I’d call it AC-Lite. I'm interested as a mech fan, but what I saw didn't exactly set my imagination on fire.


Battle Vs. Chess - Knowing nothing about this game except the title, it quickly made a place for itself on my day-one-purchase list once I laid hands on it. The game is essentially chess, but pretties things up with some extremely sharp-looking character models and backgrounds while adding some… uh, ‘nontraditional’… twists to the formula. In one mode, the pieces are placed randomly on the board. In another, players can "defend" aggressive moves by literally having the pieces fight each other. One of the most interesting, though, was the campaign mode where each level is a puzzle taken from famous matches in real-world chess history. This game isn't going to be for everyone, but it sure as hell is for me.


Two Worlds II - The original Two Worlds was little more than a punchline for most, but the developers have gone back to the drawing board and have come up with something that seems to be an order of magnitude better. An open-world RPG in the Oblivion vein, TWII instead delivers a third-person viewpoint and puts heavy, heavy emphasis on player customization. Not only does the main character have an appearance that can be altered, every weapon in the game can be broken down into component elements and used to modify or upgrade other weapons. Magic spells can also be changed on-the-fly to add, subtract, change, or completely transform their effects. In one example, I saw a spell go from a simple lighting bolt to an area-effect blast, and from there it transformed into a lightning-absorbing shield before becoming a simple light spell – all in the span of a minute or so. Players who enjoy tinkering with gear and abilities are going to be in hog heaven.


Hunted: The Demon’s Forge - This co-op game can be boiled down to something like “Fantasy-themed Gears of War”, but in my book that's not necessarily a bad thing. If a title is going to offer a multiplayer component, my preference is always for campaign-based co-op, and that's exactly what this game delivers. With one character focused on melee and the other on long-range sniping with a bow and arrows, there's plenty of potential here for some fairly epic adventuring, buddy-style. I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this one.


The Downloads and Indies - Unsurprisingly, some of the most fresh and original titles on display at PAX were the smaller ones. The first that caught my attention was About a Blob. Soon available on PSN, this bright and colorful game offers physics-based puzzling with a blob that absorbs whatever’s nearby. Imagine a smaller, 2D Katamari Damacy that has puzzles and you won't be too far off.


Outland – An unusual mix of platformer and bullet-hell shmup with a healthy dose of Shadow of the Colossus thrown in, this one was a favorite of many passers-by.


Super Meat Boy - I've heard tons about this game, and after finally getting a chance to check it out first hand, it seems as though much of that chatter is warranted. An old-school-ish take on hyper-difficult platforming, this one seems tailor-made for masochists… yet I found it somewhat irresistible.


Swarm - Take a large group of disposable blue creatures, group them together, and then try to navigate them through obstacles and puzzles, most of which are lethal - that's Swarm. The interesting thing about this title to me was that the individual had no importance: the name of the game is sacrifice for the many. When trying to leap across a chasm, the swarmlets stacked atop each other in a pendulous pile in order to make a big jump. The creatures at the top made it, but the ones at the bottom… well, let's just say that they died for a greater cause. Thankfully, the swarm can be repopulated quickly and easily to prepare for each new deathtrap, whether it be saw blades, tossing themselves into machinery, or just a good, old-fashioned explosion.


Bastion – Currently without plans for a specific download service (watch that change in a New York minute) this title will without a doubt be snapped up by some publisher by the time the show’s over. Visually reminiscent of something along the lines of Boktai, this stunningly beautiful project revolves around a world broken up into fragments, and the player’s quest to reconstruct it. Words cannot do this game justice, so make sure to watch the trailer.

There were a few other notables that warrant further investigation, specifically Hoard, Monaco: What’s Yours Is Mine, and Plane Weaver. I ran out of time on the floor, though, so I can’t speak on them in any detail. Still, appearances were very promising.


I don't often comment about public relations reps, but this year I’d like to give special praise to Aubrey Norris of SouthPeak Games, Shaun Norton of Sandbox Strategies, and Lawrence Lacsamana of FortySeven Communications. All three of these folks knew what to do and how to do it, and as a critic who sometimes has to hustle and deal, it was a pleasure to work with some people who were happy to work with me.

On the other hand, I was more than a little put off by the quality of representatives at the Ubisoft booth.

After something caught my eye in Ubi’s area, I had a few questions to ask, but there were no reps in sight. I looked around and found a developer, but he couldn't stop playing his own game long enough to speak to me. Instead, he directed me to a desk around the corner, and when I got there, the person at the desk said she had no idea who I should talk to or where the person in charge was. I offered a business card and asked if she would pass it along to the person who dealt with such things, but she wouldn't take it. When I asked specifically who I should talk to in order to set up a line of communication, she shrugged and said “we don't really do that here, this isn't E3.”


Is this really how PR should be handled, Ubisoft? Somehow, I don't think so.


On the second floor of the convention center near the Rock Band stage, there was a small juice bar and healthy food café tucked away from sight. While their tuna sandwiches were great and the orange Creamsicle smoothies were too, the best thing was a special wheatgrass drink they made that blended the pungent juice with lemon, lime, and cayenne pepper. Instant perk-up GET!!


What fan-oriented convention would be complete without dozens of people walking around in fantastic (and some not-so-fantastic) outfits? There were a few impressive-looking costumes that we didn't manage to snap when the camera's batteries died (Renegade Shepard and Battle-Damaged Garrus come to mind) but more than a few were happy to pose before the Duracells ran dry. Also included: some of the more interesting floor displays and statuary. I think these speak for themselves, but you know what? Comments follow anyway…

In random order:

This guy is at PAX every single year. He never misses.

No line-jumping! Hold those media bastards back!!

PAX took up every floor you see here, and more.

My son couldn't stay away from this giant dino. We visited it at least 50 times.

Apparently MS was pissed that these guys were backlit.

This was fifteen minutes before the crowds were let in. The floor was never this empty again.

My son Whittaker, racing to get a place in the Killzone 3 line.

At PAX, this isn't odd in any way.

Can he really see through that orange glow?

Bees about to take the Rock Band stage.

Subway sandwiches are the preferred sustenance of Black Mages.

No clue what this was advertising.

Seriously, take a shower before you come to PAX.

I have NO IDEA how she got someone to fit inside that Servbot.

BUY MY SPEAKERS!!!

I'm guessing the big blue guy isn't the brains of this crew.

That line of people against the windows? All sprawled out on beanbags. Downstairs, too.

A Big Daddy, a Little Sister, and... a maid?

VROOM!

For Gallia!!!

Still looking for that damned Ring.

Can you spare 1.21 gigawatts?

...And there you have it. This year’s coverage is a wrap, but endless thanks to Jerry, Mike, and the rest of the Penny Arcade crew for making such an amazing thing happen. PAX is always a high point of every year for me, and I hope it keeps going for many, many more.

Games: PAX is tomorrow. I'll definitely be tweeting about it, and I'll try to get some reports from the floor up as soon as possible.


By the way, if you are at the show, I do believe we have an extremely small number of Cheesecake Tweetup tickets left. If you need something to do tomorrow night (9/3) at 7PM, walk across the street and join us!


Games: Completed Dead Rising 2: Case Zero tonight. Well, to be technically correct I should say that I completed it last night, but I was having so much fun that I decided to go for all of the Achievements and just wrapped it up an hour or two ago.

If you know the way I play games, then you'll know how extremely rare it is that I will take time out of my schedule for anything beyond getting credits to roll. Granted, the Achievements in Case Zero are extremely easy to pop, but the fact remains that it's possible to escape the town with half of them (or so) left unfulfilled. The fact that I cared enough to go back for a second and third playthrough is pretty high praise in my book.


After all was said and done, I walked away extremely impressed with how perfectly the complete Dead Rising experience was captured and shrunk down to Live Arcade size. It does not feel as though it's missing anything structurally, and there is enough content here for an average player to go through it at least a couple of times before they've seen and done everything.

For $5 this was an extremely satisfying investment, and Capcom can take that money and laugh all the way to the bank. Why? Prior to playing Case Zero, Dead Rising 2 was one of those “looking forward to it, but not bursting with excitement” titles for me, and now I'm strongly leaning towards making it a day-one purchase.

For fun, here are just a couple of tips for those trying to get all the Achievements. Old habits die hard, I guess... Doug Walsh shoutout!!




>Killing 1000 zombies is a lot quicker if you can pick out which one has a Queen bug inside.

In any big group of zombies, if you look carefully you might notice one who’s got their arms raised up and is sort of shuffling, or shaking in place. Kill that one, and a Queen insect will emerge to be picked up like an item. Grab it, and then run to the nearest large group of the undead. Smash it, and up to 50 zombies will have their heads explode at once. After you've done this, look around -- there's usually another Queen standing in the aftermath. If you get good at spotting them, you can chain several hundred kills together with very minimal effort.

>Spending $100,000 at the pawn shop is cumulative.

This one might take a couple of plays. By rescuing the couple from the bar (and then fulfilling her personal requests afterwards) you can get a big chunk of cash. After that, make sure to stop by the Casino and destroy all of the machines. The cash reappears after each save, so with just a few trips you can have a pretty good sum going. If it gets too boring, just know that the game keeps track of how much you spend in total, so you don't have to actually earn and spend all $100,000 in one go.


> Rescuing all the survivors is a piece of cake once you know where (and when) they appear.

The tricky one that’s easy to miss is Bob’s daughter. She only appears in the Hunting store after 7PM, which is exactly when you need to give your daughter her medicine, and the exact same time when you need to fight the boss at the garage. Multitasking ahoy! If you go into the fight well-prepared, you can do everything you need to and still have plenty of time left to save her. (and Bob too.)

Games: PAX Prime is THIS WEEKEND. I will see you there.


Games: If you’re going to be in or around the Portland area this September 18th and 19th (and you're not completely dehydrated from PAX Prime) you may want to make your way down to the Portland Retro Gaming Expo.

Taking place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel near downtown, there will be free-play, arcade machines, exhibits, common areas and more, all devoted to the roots of everyone's favorite pastime.

Presale tickets are available, and you can click on over to THE SITE for further information. If you end up going, make sure you tell them ‘HI!’ from me!


Games: Dead Rising 2: Case Zero hit Live today, and I was only too happy to download it.

For those who don't know, Case Zero is a bit of a weird beast. It's essentially a demo for the full version of Dead Rising 2, but not exactly -- this demo has been reworked into a complete micro-adventure that gives players a real flavor for what the larger project will be like. It comes with its own achievements, and players who complete it will be able to carry over stats and items into the main game. If you ask me, this is a pretty bad-ass idea and I’m diggin’ it…


… Or at least, I was diggin’ it until the game kept booting me out to the main menu without giving me a chance to save any of my progress.

When I turned on my 360 this evening, I queued up five or six different things that I wanted to download and then got rolling in Case Zero. Unfortunately, every time one of the other things in my active downloads completed, it completely interrupted gameplay and kicked me out of my session. I've never had this happen to me with any other game, and it took me a minute or two to figure out what was going on.

Once I put two and two together, I stopped playing until the downloads finished -- or at least, until I thought they finished. There ended up being one more that I had forgotten about, and when I lost progress that last time, I decided to pack it in and start fresh in the morning.

I really, really like what I have seen of Case Zero so far, but Capcom should have caught this hiccup before releasing it. Granted, it's not a huge deal, but it was certainly irritating enough to make me stop playing it for the evening, and I expect better quality than that for a paid transaction.

Games: I also tried the Vanquish demo, a little slice of the latest project from Shinji Mikami and Platinum.

So.... the game.


It's quite beautiful, I give it that. I found the graphic quality to be outstanding, and seeing something that looks as clean and as detailed as this certainly makes me think there's plenty of life left in the old 360.

As for the rest... Well, I'll have to say that the jury is still out, but I'm not getting very positive vibes.

It's hard to tell from just a demo, but the characters and dialogue didn't do much for me and the bits we got seemed like a crazy lovechild from Halo and P.N. 03. I have a sneaking suspicion that unless there are more design surprises in store than what was in the demo, it might end up feeling very samey and repetitious.

It's way too early to call it, but my caution meter just rose a few increments. It's now yellow.


Games: Moving away from downloads, I wrapped up my second playthrough of Nier and saw the B ending. I'm glad that I went through that second time because the second ending really did add quite a bit to the experience. That said, I wasn't really up for replaying a third and fourth time (especially after finding out that there was a lot more collecting of things to be done) so I just YouTubed the C and D endings.

Interesting stuff to be sure, but after having seen all four, I think I was best satisfied with just A and B.


Games: Last but certainly not least, I elected to go with Prince of Persia: the Forgotten Sands as my next console play. (After that? Deadly Premonition, I'm fairly certain.)

I’m a pretty big PoP fan, and I like the crazy-surreal platforming gameplay the series has been known for since its big reboot in 2003. It certainly gets more than a little ludicrous at times when you look at how these "castles" are designed for nothing but an un-engineerable high-wire act, but leaping from ledge to ledge feels great, and there is a certain thrill in having a character that's so agile.


I'm liking what I'm seeing so far (it's a hell of a lot better than what we got with that bizarro never-die re-imagining last time) but this is coming from someone who is already predisposed to liking the franchise and who is basically okay with keeping grains of salt nearby.

Putting my fandom aside for a moment, the premise that this game is supposed to actually connect plot-wise with the original trilogy is a bit laughable. I didn't even try to swallow that one, and instead I see this title as a stand-alone one-off regardless of what Ubisoft says.

Talking about the Prince specifically, he's mad ugly. I don't know for a fact that the developers were actually trying to make visual connections between the Prince and Jake Gyllenhaal, but whatever their intentions were, all they ended up doing was making him look really odd and disconcerting. I ended up playing the first big chunk of the game with the Prince wearing Ezio’s outfit from Assassin’s Creed 2 since it did a good job of covering him up, but let's get serious -- that little Italian shoulder cape is hyper-fruity.

I ended up changing back to the original outfit, but if Altair’s costume had been the choice, I would've went with that.