Category: Videogames

Watch DICE 2012 and the Interactive Achievement Awards

The fine folks at Gamespot will be live streaming DICE 2012 panels and the Interactive Achievement Awards. Both events are hosted by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. There’s some really, really awesome stuff here and I urge you to watch if you can. Below are the sessions Gamespot will be live streaming and links to the video awesomeness.

(Skyrim) Todd Howard Keynote – February 8, 2012 – 6:30-7:30p Pacific

(Arkham City) Sefton Hill Session – February 9, 2012 – 10-10:30a Pacific

(Twisted Metal) David Jaffe Session – February 9, 2012 – 11:45a-12:15p Pacific

15th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards – February 9, 2012 – 7:30p-10p Pacific

If you happen to catch any of these sessions, please share your thoughts on them…and also rate the speakers outfits on a scale of one to five (no halves!).

This Week’s Videogame Releases

There are a handful of interesting videogame releases this week. Leading the way is Kingdom of Amalur: The Reckoning, the debut title from Curt Schilling’s 38 Studios. The game combines the formidable talents of Ken Rolston (lead designer of several games in The Elder Scrolls series), R.A. Salvatore (renowned Forgotten Realms author and creator of Drizz’t), and Todd McFarlane (buyer of expensive baseballs). Fans of dark and gritty comics looking for a dark and gritty comic-book game will want to check out The Darkness II. Lastly, Resident Evil: Revelations brings Capcom’s famous survival-horror franchise to the Nintendo 3DS.

Any of you picking up new games this week?

Final Fantasy VI Meets Pat Benatar

When last you heard from him, Justin Leeper (author of the book Still Man Fights) rapped about the Occupy movement. This time he’s gone in a totally different direction, melding Final Fantasy VI and Pat Benatar. Check out the song above and official description below:

I felt these two songs — “Love is a Battlefield” and “Decisive Battle” — would go well together, so I set out to mix them. I wrote some additional lyrics, got my wife to sing, and made a video using gameplay from one of my favorite games of all-time, Square’s Final Fantasy VI (FF III in the US on SNES).

The music is “Decisive Battle,” from the Final Fantasy VI soundtrack. Both It and the game’s likenesses are owned by Square Enix.

“Love is a Battlefield” was written by Mike Chapman and Holly Knight, and was made famous by Pat Benatar.

My wife Kate did the singing on this video. I did rap and additional lyrics.

As always, Justin is looking for feedback on his work. So please leave a comment here or on his YouTube page.

Coffee Talk #450: If You Could Have One Materia…

Based off a message I sent in the More-or-Less-Official RPad.TV Google+ Chat Room, I’ve been thinking a lot about materia. You know, those lovely magical balls (mind out of the gutter!) used in the world of Final Fantasy VII. If you could have…

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, Demi Moore’s health problems, the Susan G Komen Foundation controversy, or Demi Lovato sexily licking a lollipop, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

Based off a message I sent in the More-or-Less-Official RPad.TV Google+ Chat Room, I’ve been thinking a lot about materia. You know, those lovely magical balls (mind out of the gutter!) used in the world of Final Fantasy VII. If you could have one materia, what would it be and why? Would you go offensive? Maybe you’d like to summon Bahamut for afternoon tea chats? Or perhaps you’d like to heal you friends and family with restorative materia like Curaga or Esuna. Give it some thought and let me know your dream materia (please!).

Yuffie is a Materia Girl.

As for me, I’m stuck on a pair of materia from Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. Initially I was thinking that Costly Punch would be the way to go; it would pretty much let me win any fight in a cheap and annoying way that would mentally scar my opponents. However, I’m more of a thief than a fighter. Mug materia would be much more useful to me. Being able to steal and hit at the same time would rule! In my head, Mug would work with friendly slaps too. My victims would lose valuable possessions (or more likely, Pez dispensers) after innocent pats on the back thanks to the deceptively awesome power of Mug!

So how about it? If you have one materia, what would it be and why?

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

This weekend will be evenly split between my PlayStation 3 and my iPad 2. On the console side, I’ll be playing Final Fantasy XIII-2. My gaming-biz friends are all over the place with their opinions on the game. As a Final Fantasy homer, I’m pretty sure I’ll enjoy it. On the iPad side, I’ll be playing WinPokerHD. I’m headed to Las Vegas next week for DICE and I’ve randomly caught the video-poker bug. WinPokerHD is a fantastic training program that lets you practice, learn optimal play, and avoid mistakes. I used it a ton on my PC during my semi-pro gambling phase of 2001. Since video poker is played on a touchscreen, the game is even better on the iPad.

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

Final Fantasy XIII-2, Star Wars, and a Lack of Vision

My excellent friend, former coworker, and former roommate Gamasutra Christian Nutt wrote this phenomenal article about the Final Fantasy XIII series. He compares the criticism of XIII and XIII-2 to Harry Plinkett’s criticism of the Star Wars prequels. It’s seriously one of the best videogame articles I’ve read in months and I strongly urge you to check it out. Here’s a taste:

The Star Wars prequels are full of things we recognize from the original trilogy, but divorced from any dramatic intent. For example, Plinkett astutely points out that light sabers are incredibly overused in the newer films, so much so that fights lose their uniqueness and tension — the constant battles becoming simple, garish light shows. Moments from the original trilogy are deliberately referred to, but without any parallel in meaning, just in form.

So, too, is Final Fantasy XIII filled with Final Fantasy Stuff — most notably and stupidly, crystals — and it’s clear that all of that junk is there because the developers assume that it has to be there, not because it enriches the world or the game’s play experience.

“The new films just borrow and recycle from the original ideas, as if there’s no way to create anything new,” says Plinkett. And that’s what hamstrings Final Fantasy XIII, too.

Again, this is an outstanding article and you should read it when you have a chance. Keep in mind that I’m saying this as someone that likes FFXIII and the Star Wars prequels a little bit more than most people. While I don’t agree with all of Christian’s criticisms — or at least the degree of which they’re issues — I was just floored by the thoughtful and intelligent writing. After you’ve digested the article, please let me know what you thought of it.

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Humble Bundle Offers Great Games for Great Charities

Humble Bundle is a great way to enjoy some sweet games, support some lovely indie developers, and contribute to great charities. On the game side, you get Anomaly, Edge, Osmos, and World of Goo. The games are DRM-free and available on multiple platforms (Android, Linux, Mac OS, and Windows). You pay what you want for the games, which is very cool. What’s even cooler is that you can split up your payment; you can decide how much goes to the developer, the charities, and Humble Bundle.

I’d love to hear what you think of Humble Bundle. On paper, it seems like a win-win for gamers, developers, and charities. If you happen to pick up the games, please share your Humble Bundle experience.

Coffee Talk #449: Achievements, Cheats, and You

The other day, RPadholic Lunias wrote a great post about achievements killing cheat codes. While millions of gamers enjoy achievements, trophies, and negasonic teenage warheads, these features have definitely lessened the use of cheats…

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, Verve’s Ethiopia Lomi Peaberry, bone-in vs. boneless ribeye, or the apparent suicide of Soul Train creator Don Cornelius, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

The other day, RPadholic Lunias wrote a great post about achievements killing cheat codes. While millions of gamers enjoy achievements, trophies, and negasonic teenage warheads, these features have definitely lessened the use of cheats, cheat codes, and cheat devices. Do you miss the world of cheats? Or are you happy that the use of cheat codes has been curbed (or eliminated depending on your point of view) by achievements, trophies, and negaonic teenage warheads?

As for me, I definitely miss them. Even though the vast majority of my cheat use was for replays and I could probably still use cheats the same way today, I’m sure they would cost me a small amount of achievements or trophies. This, I cannot have. Yes, I’m one of those idiots that will sacrifice a bit of enjoyment for some meaningless points…though I suppose it’s really trading one type of enjoyment for another. I love my meaningless points!

How about you? Have achievements, trophies, and the like stopped you from cheating? Do you miss cheat codes? Out of curiosity, what’s your all-time favorite cheat code?

Digital Vita Games Will Be Cheaper Than Physical Ones

Many of you were calling for digital PlayStation Vita games to be priced lower than their cartridge counterparts. Your calls have been answered! That’s how it works in Japan and that’s how it should work here, right? Although precise price differences weren’t announced, Sony has confirmed that digital buyers will save money by going digital. Here’s a quote from a “Sony representative” snagged by Shacknews:

I can confirm that there will be a discount on the downloadable PS Vita titles from PSN. Exact details have not yet been revealed, but be on the lookout for an announcement in the very near future.

Like many of you have said in the past, it makes sense for digital downloads to be cheaper than cartridges. The costs of physical media, shipping, retail space, etc. are eliminated by going digital and consumers should be able to enjoy the savings. That said, I wonder if Sony’s retail partners are pissed about this and if their pissed-off-edness will limit the digital discount.

Any guess as to how much cheaper digital Vita games will be?

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Bastion on Sale for $7.50 This Week

Supergiant Games’ Bastion is on sale this week for 600 Microsoft Points ($7.50) on Xbox Live. This excellent game is fun action-RPG with a unique narrator, a sweet soundtrack, and great gameplay. It was one of my favorite games of 2011 and I hope you guys give it a shot. If you happen to pick it up, please let me know what you think of Bastion in the comments section.

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