July 15, 2008 -

TD Gaming Podcast 79: I’m Often WrongTD Gaming Podcast 79: I’m Often Wrong

July 15, 2008| schommer| 0 Comment| 9:34 pm

This weeks gaming podcast we’re all over the rhythm matching games along with great gaming news and a bit of our early E3 coverage. We continue our RPG history and we also look back on Dragon Fire, and old Atari 2600 game.

This weeks podcasting news:

Jennifer wonders if the market is becoming flooded with music matching games and we’ve got to handle a big listener question: What holiday game would sell a console in 2008?

*Sony has recently cut prices on the 80GB PlayStation 3.

Sony’s E3 Conference: Fairly ImpressiveSony’s E3 Conference: Fairly Impressive

July 15, 2008| schommer| 0 Comment| 3:24 pm

We’re all used to Sony falling on their face at E3 in the last few years, but, this year, things were different. They’re information was delivered well, they had a great presentation medium using Little Big Planet‘s game engine as a presentation platform over the standard PowerPoint slides and everything went smoothly.

The format for displaying their facts, figures and sales numbers was well played. Nobody wants to sit in front of a chart and listen to an executive blab on about what they did and where they’re going. But, when you add some Little Big Planet flair, such as having the graphs built within their game engine and Sack Boy hopping around on the statistics things smooth over well.

I was confused on why they chose to display the Little Big Planet graphic engine followed by Resistance 2 and then taper into talk about the PlayStation 2 with game previews. It seems more appropriate to bring in the PlayStation 2 product line first, then blow the crowd away with the current generation graphics. Instead, we were awed by the epic Resistance 2 graphics and then presented with old generation stale game engines… silly.

They went on to show off the wide array of PSP games arriving and a little trailer for Resistance Retribution for the PSP. The game system is definitely more mature than their DS competitor but seems to have a bit less sales momentum.

Overall, Sony did one right by talking about their three tiered solution to gaming instead of focusing too much on a single system. PlayStation 3 numbers are good but not mind boggling (like Wii) and their PSP product is doing much better than it used to and the PlayStation 2 numbers are high but falling compared to last year (as would be expected).

By focusing on the full suite of products they’ve put their eggs into many baskets rather than rely on their bleeding edge flagship product which still needs time to grow.

Well done Sony.

PlayStation 3 80GB For $399.99PlayStation 3 80GB For $399.99

July 15, 2008| schommer| 0 Comment| 3:00 pm

So there you have it, the PlayStation 3‘s 80GB console is now the price of the PlayStation 3’s 40GB console, running in at $399.99. This is, in effect, a price drop to compete well with the Xbox 360 which is now going to be $349.99.

The new price of the PlayStation 3 with the talk of their new Resistance 2 game, their hopes for Sony Home, Little Big Planet and the rest of their game lineup (including Greatest Hits game lineup) and the hype for God of War 3 it’s almost a done deal. Perhaps the PlayStation 3 has a chance this holiday season after all!

Would you invest $399.99 for an 80GB model with the potential for great future games?

Resistance 2: Epic Scale of Huge ProportionsResistance 2: Epic Scale of Huge Proportions

July 15, 2008| schommer| 0 Comment| 2:17 pm

E3’s PlayStation 3 press release really started with Resistance 2. They show off a good deal of battle footage against a 300 foot leviathan in the middle of a crumbling city. The game definitely cries “scale” in terms of epic battles, monsters and emotional feel.

The trailer they presented after the game play demonstration was real footage of the game and shows off just how much Resistance looks like War of the Worlds. The trailer even included a radio commentator which reminds you of the War of the Worlds attack and has the same gritty battles, huge alien robots and flying ships floating over the massive city.

The trailer shows the scale and emotional feel of Resistance 2. This game may be a console seller if the trailer and game footage reflects the game and its core feeling. It makes Gears of War look tiny by comparison.

In the end, this exclusive PlayStation 3 title would keep the PlayStation 3 fans highly interested and attached to their beloved console along with bringing new folks to the PS3 domain. This game is definitely out to fight a battle with Gears of War 2.

Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades (Nintendo DS)Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades (Nintendo DS)

July 15, 2008| schommer| 0 Comment| 12:53 pm

Talk about a name dropping, E3 is all about hyping upcoming titles to get people stoked and talking about the games. Nintendo had very little to say but to let the name slip Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades with a few minor tidbits about what we can expect.

First, we can expect massive carpel tunnel syndrome. Second, you can expect something similar to what we’ve seen in Guiter Hero On Tour with a few minor tweaks:

“They did reveal that the game will feature song sharing between Nintendo DS handelds, which would mean one copy of the game has the potential to have a song the other doesn’t? Could there be DS downloadable tracks in the near future?” (kotaku)

It seems a bit quick to be pushing towards yet another release, although no dates have been set besides “coming soon.” Had it been Sony, we could expect soon to be a few years, but Nintendo is usually pretty prompt when it comes to release schedules. Of course, they’ll wait for the On Tour sales to die down before we see the Decades release.

Unfortunately no songs have been talked about yet, it was really more of a name dropping than a detailed announcement. Perhaps they didn’t have a large enough E3 press release time slot, or they were much more jazzed to talk about the Wii Motion Plus product and Wii Sports Resort.

Wii Sports Resort and Wii Motion PlusWii Sports Resort and Wii Motion Plus

July 15, 2008| schommer| 0 Comment| 12:30 pm

Nintendo plans to capitalize on the monumental success of Wii Sports by doing what they do best, building a hot game with an accessory backing its success. The new Wii Sports Resort will be a mini-game set like Wii Sports and Wii Play but with a beach setting and games like frisbee.

Frisbee? How can the Wii motion controller handle a Frisbee toss? Wii Motion Plus of course! We believe they’ll be packing the game in with the Wii Motion Plus to add more value to the purchase. Honestly, this adds more value to the accessory as a driving force to make sales and increase margins. Game accessories are a great way for Nintendo to profit, consider the pack in game marketing material.

As Wii Play has shown us, historically, gamers want the accessory and the bundled game is just icing on the proverbial cake. Wii Play, as a game, was lacking in many ways and would be, as a stand alone product, a definite must-not-have title. But, considering the amount of Wii controllers sold, this allows Wii Play to show up high on best games sold month over month.

Wii Sports Resort takes this to a new level by using the term “Wii Sports” in the game, allowing the masses to flock to the store to get anything that can reproduce the fun of the original title. Nobody knows, yet, if it will reproduce the same fun factor but the accessory is neat.

(Thanks, joystiq)

GTA China Town – Nintendo DSGTA China Town – Nintendo DS

July 15, 2008| schommer| 0 Comment| 12:21 pm

Imagine that, the kids hand held grows up and is getting a Grand Theft Auto title. The game will, of course, be a sandbox-style title true to the franchise history and will feature new characters and a new game engine.

No real details came out of the announcement, just a little leak to the press so everyone can speculate on what is to come. First thing that will arrive will be nay-sayer parents telling the ESRB the game isn’t rated correctly, defines violence in today’s culture and is bad for the United States and the youth of America.

Just a guess.

The new game engine will probably be designed for compact hand helds and allow for a very touch-sensitive approach to the game. Imagine car jacking an innocent driver with the touch of a finger or beating an old lady with a bat with a swat of the stylus. Sound fun? Sounds disturbing.

The Grand Theft Auto series needs a DS game. Finally a product that shouldn’t require a billion dollar effort to produce and market yet should yield fantastic sales figures based on the DS install base.

Wii Speak – Speaker PhoneWii Speak – Speaker Phone

July 15, 2008| schommer| 0 Comment| 12:07 pm

Nintendo’s press coverage is on the move, currently they’ve demonstrated Wii Speak which will allow voice chat on your Nintendo Wii console. Although the Xbox 360 has had voice chat since its day one release, Nintendo is bringing it in a new unique way: community chat.

Basically, the device which will go on top of the Wii sensor bar will allow everyone in the room to talk to everyone in the room on another Wii. Where you need a headset on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 this will give the entire room a chance to chat along.

Having a speaker phone style behavior is neat, but what about when everyone is asleep and you want to play a network game with a buddy? Will the device pickup a whisper across the room? Perhaps a speaker attachment will be announced later, but for now… you’re going to be conference calling with everyone in the game room.

(Thanks, Kotaku)

Wolfenstein for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3Wolfenstein for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3

July 15, 2008| schommer| 0 Comment| 10:25 am

When you hear the word Wolfenstein what game do you think of? Constantly, I recall Wolfenstein 3D and all the memorable times I had building my first person shooter fingers. From a new-generation FPS perspective, Return to Castle Wolfenstein for the PC back in 2001 was my last touch on a Wolfenstein game series. I enjoyed it a great deal and would love to see more out of the game series.

It seems Activision and Raven Software are working on a PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game, currently titled Wolfenstein set to be released “when it is done.” The game follows the same concepts as most of the Wolfenstein titles of the past, a bit of dark science fiction and undead matched with World War II settings with Nazi’s and the main character BJ Blazkowicz.

This series seems to be full of re-hash and repeat with plots, characters and overall feel. Developers seem to favor re-makes over sequels to the famous franchise, eventually putting out one or two sequels of their re-make hits well with customers.

Is this the correct direction for the Wolfenstein franchise? In my humble opinion, it doesn’t really matter to me because I’m such a fan of the series. Perhaps they will continue to re-make the game until the larger demographic screams “Not again!”

(Thanks, Eurogamer)