Videogames Archives - Page 32 of 185

This Week’s Videogame Releases

The traditional summer drought has come to a close! Leading this week’s new releases is Tekken Tag Tournament 2. Fighting game fans and tournament players alike are amped for another dose of Tekken action. If you prefer balling to bashing then check out NBA Baller Beats. This Xbox Kinect game uses a real basketball as a controller. Watch Justin play the game and get the skinny from the producer in the video above. Fans of traditional sports games will want to pick up NHL 13. If you’re LTTP on the latest Battlefield game then Battlefield 3 Premium Edition will bring you the game and all the DLC in one convenient package. Lastly, Nintendo’s lovable pink puff celebrates his 20th birthday with Kirby’s Dream Collection: Special Edition.

Any of you picking up new games this week?

David Crane: The First Major Kickstarter Videogame Flop?

David Crane is a gaming icon. He has designed some of the earliest and most influential videogames of all time. Pitfall!, Ghostbusters, and A Boy and His Blob are just some of the titles he has worked on. He was the co-founder of Activision, the biggest and most powerful videogame publisher in the world today. Like Larry Zbyszko, he’s a living legend. With his accomplishments and stature in mind, it’s kind of sad that there’s a high chance that his next project will go down as the first major videogame flop in the brief history of Kickstarter.

The video below is from the Kickstarter page of Crane’s upcoming project Jungle Adventure. On paper it seems like a fantastic idea — the originator of jungle adventure games making a new jungle adventure game with modern technology. With only five days left to go, Jungle Adventure isn’t anywhere close to reaching its funding goal. As of this writing, it has only $28,392 of $900,000 goal. Ouchie.

There’s an odd backlash towards this project. Some people within the Kickstart community think that Crane is asking for too much money. Some indie developers feel that someone with Crane’s experience should be pulling from other sources and that he’s ruining Kickstarter for indies. He isn’t helping his cause either. Some of the things he said in this Gamasutra article can be interpreted in a negative way. Kickstarter has a reputation as this shiny, happy place where the little guy can get money to make his dream project a reality. For various reasons, David Crane’s Jungle Adventure has brought out Kickstarter’s dark side.

Anyway, I wanted to get your take on the Jungle Adventure situation. Are you surprised that someone with Crane’s history is struggling on Kickstarter? Or is the project simply too vague and the price tag too high? Please leave a comment and let me know!

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

My gaming weekend will pretty much be a rerun of last weekend: lots of Final Fantasy Dimensions and a good bit of Outernauts. The former is just a brilliant old-school JRPG. There are a lot of gamers that complain about the newer Final Fantasy games because they’re quite different from the old ones. They should stop complaining and pick up Dimensions. It’s especially excellent for fans of FFV. As for Outernauts, it’s something I go to multiple times a day. You should play too! Oh yeah, I also got my beta key for StarCraft II: Heart of the Storm. That’s probably too good to pass up.

How about you? What’s on your weekend playlist?

Coffee Talk #515: Final Fantasy Dimensions and Square Enix iOS Pricing

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Roger Federer losing early in the U.S. Open (am cry), Bill Clinton vs. the dead teleprompter, or the start of the NFL season, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

There’s this one (idiot) game journalist that I can’t stand (professionally). One of the things he constantly harps on is the price of Square Enix’s iOS games. He has used thousands of words to rail on the company. On a good day, he says that the games are overpriced. On a bad day, he says that the pricing is obscene. The truth is that the game’s are selling well enough so that it’s inaccurate to call them overpriced. Are they expensive compared to other iOS games? Sure they are. Is the pricing obscene? No. If enough gamers are happy to be paying these prices and the publisher is making money then why do some people have such a mad-on about the pricing?

Let’s look at the recently released Final Fantasy Dimensions, for example. Some game journalists, JRPG fans, and iOS users went nuts when they learned about the game’s U.S. pricing. The entire game costs $28.99 or $32.96 if purchased by individual chapters. My game clock after chapter one was a little over nine hours. By the end of chapter two, it was a hair over 26 hours. I’m currently near the end of chapter three and my clock is at 36:54. In terms of game time, $28.99 for an RPG that I’ll get at least 45 hours out of is a great value. I wouldn’t say that’s overpriced or obscene.

Then there’s the quality. While the graphics aren’t anything special (though they are a nice homage to Final Fantasy V), the music is fantastic. The combat system — centered around a sweet version of the Final Fantasy job system — is awesome. The story is very good, especially for fans of 16-bit RPGs. The game has a lot of depth and a ton of replay value for those that like to experiment with job systems. It’s a great game that compares favorably to RPGs I’ve purchased for other portable devices. Many of those games cost more than FFD’s $28.99 when they were first released.

I understand if some iOS gamers think that Final Fantasy Dimensions is too expensive. Although I think it’s a brilliant throwback game, others might not dig it. I don’t understand people calling the price obscene or claiming that Square Enix is out of its mind. It’s not like the company is sending flocks of wild chocobos to gamers’ houses, forcing them to buy Square Enix iOS games. If nobody buys these games then the prices will go down. One of the great things about the iOS market is that publishers can be flexible with pricing. For a new game (outside of Japan) that offers depth, quality, and dozens of gameplay hours, I don’t see anything obscene about Final Fantasy Dimensions‘ $28.99 price.

Of course that’s just my opinion. What do you think of this game’s price? How about other Square Enix games for iOS and Android? Leave a comment and let me know (please!).

My Favorite Screenshot of 2012

This image from Final Fantasy Dimensions is my favorite screenshot of 2012 (so far). I don’t remember many Japanese RPGs that use the word bunghole. That’s funny. Pirates are also funny (blame Captain Jack Sparrow for that one). Imagining that the pirates in Final Fantasy Dimensions are constantly using the word bunghole the way that Beavis does when he’s Cornholio mode? That’s frickin’ hilarious! This little bit of dialogue made a great game that much more entertaining. (And yes, part of the reason I found it so funny was that it was like 4:00AM or something when I read it.)

Final Fantasy Dimensions Prologue Has Me Hooked

I recently finished the prologue to Final Fantasy Dimensions and I want more! Allow me to back up a moment and give you some background info on the game. Final Fantasy Dimensions is similar in style to Final Fantasy V in terms of looks and gameplay. It features a job system, which I love from FFV and the numerous Final Fantasy Tactics games. Dimensions was originally released as an episodic mobile-phone game in Japan from 2010-2011. For the North American release, the game is divided into a free prologue and four chapters. Chapter one costs $2.99, while the other chapters cost $9.99. The whole shebang can be had for $28.99. The game is available on iTunes (universal app, thank Shiva) ~~with a Google Play (Android) release coming soon~~.

The prologue — which, let’s face it, uses the tried-and-true “first one’s free!” model employed by drug dealers for decades — gives you a basic feel for the game. It’s pretty much what you’d expect from a 16-bit RPG. You run around, engage in lots of random battles, find treasure, and crawl through dungeons. It gives you a feel for the controls and basic combat. The action stops after a boss battle, which is sadly right before the job system is introduced.

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The even sadder part is that the other chapters aren’t yet available due to technical difficulties. For job-system marks like me, this is frustrating. I know I’m going to enjoy this game and I want to play more now! Hopefully the issue will be resolved soon or I’m going to march down to Square Enix USA headquarters with my replica Buster Sword (I don’t really have one, but I totally want one…though I probably wouldn’t be able to lift it).

There are eight jobs that can be selected in the early going: ~~freelance videogame writer~~ jobless, warrior, monk, thief, red mage, white mage, black mage, and summoner. As the game progresses, the characters are divided into two factions: the warriors of light and the warriors of darkness. Additional jobs are unlocked for each side in later chapters. The warriors of light jobs are dragoon, bard, memorist, paladin, and seer. The warriors of darkness jobs are ranger, dark knight, dancer, ninja, and magus. Skills from different jobs can be used in conjunction for “fusion” attacks, adding an additional layer of strategy to the traditional turn-based combat.

Visually, the game is unimpressive. This wasn’t a surprise considering that the source material is a mobile-phone game from 2010. The music, however, was a pleasant surprise. The tracks I heard throughout the hour-long prologue were very, very good. I’m looking forward to hearing more.

If you’re an old-school RPG fan — especially one that loves job systems — then Final Fantasy Dimensions is tantalizing. It looks like it will be a great game in the vein of Final Fantasy V. Yes, it’s relatively expensive compared to other Android and iOS games, but many gamers will find the price worth it. Just from the prologue, I’m confident that I will enjoy this game and fairly sure that the $28.99 price will be worth it. Now where the hell are my additional Final Fantasy Dimensions chapters Square Enix?!?

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

It’s going to be a Facebook and iPad weekend if everything goes as planned. I just finished the prologue to Final Fantasy Dimensions and love where it’s going. The gameplay is straightforward FF so far and the music is really good. The game features a job system and I frickin’ love job systems. The kicker is that the game’s chapters aren’t available for purchase yet due to some technical difficulties. Hopefully that will sort itself out later today or some lovely PR people can hook me up with codes. I love job systems!!!

On the Facebook side, I was stuck in Outernauts for a few days because of a bug, but it was fixed yesterday. I’m still a little stuck because I need some items that can only be obtained through friends or premium currency. This wouldn’t be an issue if some of you played the game with me (guilt trip!). I’m going to level up my b-squad over the weekend and hope some friends give me the stalactites that I need. If I don’t have them by Sunday, I might bite the bullet and buy some more premium currency. I love Pokemon-like gameplay!!!

How about you? What’s on your weekend playlist?

Today’s Poll: The Metal Gear Solid Movie and You

My fine friend Mark was at the Metal Gear Solid 25th anniversary jammie and tweeted that Avi Arad will be producing a Metal Gear Solid movie with Columbia Pictures. Is this something you’d be interested in? Obviously the Metal Gear Solid franchise is tremendously popular and has a global appeal. There are certainly many gamers that would love to see MGS: The Movie. MGS detractors ding the games for their lengthy cutscenes and will say that designer Hideo Kojima has already made several movies through his games.

What say you?!? Please vote in today’s poll and explain yourself in the comments section!

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Mercia: PlayStation Home’s Free-to-Play RPG

Mercia: Fractured Realms launches tomorrow on PlayStation Home. This free-to-play RPG takes your PlayStation Home avatar and puts it in a lovely sword-and-sorcery setting. Players can choose from ranger, fighter, and defender classes. Beating up baddies and hoarding treasure can be done alone or with friends. Naturally, there’s spell casting, weapon crafting, and armor customization to enjoy. Given the popularity of Home (yes, I know that most of you aren’t fans), Mercia has a ton of potential. It could be a WoW-ish hit and I can see Sony making a killing with premium options.

Of course I want to get your take on Mercia: Fractured Realms. Is it something you’d play? Do you think it will do well with the PlayStation Home crowd? Does the name make any of you think of this stupid song? Most importantly, are down for an RPad.TV Invitational adventure with Mercia?

Coffee Talk #513: Cheating and eSports

Melky Cabrera, Bartolo Colon, and Lance Armstrong recently reminded us that cheating (or alleged cheating) is an unfortunate part of competitive sports. With so much money and prestige on the line, people are always looking for an edge and they sometimes cross the line from being a competitor to being a cheater. The same holds true for competitive gaming and eSports.

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, being sad about canceled trips to Japan, getting excited for Sergio Martinez vs. Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr., or Lindsay Lohan’s career as a master thief, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

The recent scandal at the MLG Summer Championship has brought attention to cheating and unsportsmanlike conduct in eSports. MLG has accused Team Curse and Team Dignitas of collusion in the League of Legends finals, stripping both teams of ranking and prize money earned at the event. (There’s some debate on whether the two teams were actually cheating or just not being true to the spirit of MLG, but let’s shelf that for a moment.) Some people were surprised that cheating and gamesmanship happens in eSports. I was surprised that they were surprised. If there’s money, pride, and prestige at stake then you can count on people going too far to win. Some people are simply wired that way. It’s human nature.

Anyway, I wanted to get your take on cheating in eSports. Are you surprised that it happens? What do you think of the situation at the MLG Summer Championship? Would you call it cheating or two teams being wankers? Why can’t all competitors exemplify the purity of sports the way that Derek Jeter does?