Coffee Talk #265: The Gaming Press Must Evolve or Die

I’m convinced that the videogame enthusiast press is at a critical junction. When I first started writing about games, a magazine cover from the likes of EGM, Game Informer, and Compuer Gaming World was a PR flak’s ultimate prize. That changed to website takeovers, with the big fish being IGN and GameSpot. These days…

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, Cliff Lee going to the Phillies, Brett Favre’s streak ending, or Christina Aguilera’s naughty photo leak, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

I’m convinced that the videogame enthusiast press is at a critical junction. When I first started writing about games, a magazine cover from the likes of EGM, Game Informer, and Compuer Gaming World was a PR flak’s ultimate prize. That changed to website takeovers, with the big fish being IGN and GameSpot.  These days games are making big splashes on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, in Entertainment Weekly, and during the Spike TV VGAs. Traditional videogame enthusiast outlets can’t compete with NBC, EW, or Spike TV.

Last night Uncharted 3 made an appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Naughty Dog’s Evan Wells and Christophe Balestra were on hand for the demo. Can you imagine Hironobu Sakaguchi and Yoshinori Kitase showing off Final Fantasy VII on Late Night with Conan O’Brien in 1997?!? Triple-A videogames debuting on mainstream television and in mainstream magazines is becoming the norm. Traditional videogame outlets have to change their approach or lose relevancy.

That’s what I think anyway. How about you? Do you think the Entertainment Weeklies and Jimmy Fallons of the world are making it harder for the IGNs and GameSpots? Will videogame outlets have to focus on follow-up articles on triple-A games instead of debuting them? Or are enthusiast magazines and websites fine the way they are?

Anyone Down for PSN Tetris (RPad.tv Invitational!)

I’ve known about this for several weeks but wasn’t able to share the info just yet: Tetris for PlayStation Network will have an exclusive multiplayer mode that its Xbox Live counterpart lacks. Here’s the scoop from senior producer Christophe Gomez:

We are launching Tetris on PlayStation Network and it’ll be available to download from the PSN store in very early next year. This version of Tetris boasts 5.1 Dolby Sound, 1080P HD graphics, plus six online and local multiplayer modes. Of course, you can play Marathon mode by yourself in the boldest and brightest graphics ever.

We’ve already pegged X-Men Arcade as a future game we’ll be playing together. How about multiplayer Tetris for PS3? Anyone down? It looks like it’ll be loads of fun!

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Today’s Poll: Who Will Have the Best Sand of 2011?

Screw water. Sand is where it’s at…well, that appears to be the trend in 2011. Between Uncharted 3, Journey, and Spec Ops: The Line, there are already a handful of major 2011 releases featuring sand. Surely this list will spawn copycats and at least half of next year’s games will take place in deserts. Which game will have the best sand in 2011? Kindly take today’s poll and discuss the matter…unless you’re an idiot that thinks things like, “I don’t like sand. It’s coarse and irritating and it gets everywhere.”

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FFIV: Complete Collection Brings Wii Games to PSP

Final Fantasy IV is one of my favorites in the series, so I’m incredibly psyched for FFIV: Complete Collection for PlayStation Portable. In addition to the main game, this compilation adds The After Years games that hit the Nintendo Wii. According to V Jump (via Andriasang):

This PSP title combines Final Fantasy IV with Final Fantasy IV The After Years. The latter is an episodic sequel to FFIV that was released on Wii Ware last year after originally appearing on cell phones. For the PSP, Square Enix is redoing the visuals and adding a new scenario that connects FFIV and The After Years.

Yay! This is my first early Christmas present of 2010. Anyone else psyched for Final Fantasy IV: Complete Collection?

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The 3rd Birthday Weapons and Upgrade System Detailed

In my continuing mission to get you to care about Square Enix’s The 3rd Birthday for PSP, here are some details on the game’s upgrade system. Andriasang did a fantastic job at translating the info from the official Japanese site, which added info on weapons, upgrades, and more. Here’s a snippet:

Aya herself can be customized by entering the OE Setup area of the customization menu. This gives you access to Aya’s DNA Board, where you can set OE Chips that you’ve acquired during your mission. Depending on how you place the OE Chips on the board, Aya will gain access to different skills, known as Over Energies. OE Chips can be set in such a way that you end up fusing them together, resulting in Over Energies with higher level or new Over Energies all together.

The weapons system seems fairly standard, but I’m really intrigued by the OE system. It potentially gives the game more depth than others in the survival-horror genre. Visually, the game is looking amazing and I have high hopes for it. Let me know what you think so far. And also, enjoy these excellent wallpapers!

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Mortal Kombat Special Edition Details + Kratos!

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has revealed information on the special editions and retail exclusives for the upcoming Mortal Kombat, as well as details on Kratos (God of War) appearance in the game. Here’s the skinny on the Kollector’s and Tournament editions:

  • The Kollector’s Edition featuring the award-winning Mortal Kombat game, Sub-Zero and Scorpion figurines, a collectible art book, downloadable content that includes an exclusive Mortal Kombat Klassic costume skin and avatar costumes.
  • The Tournament Edition featuring the award-winning Mortal Kombat game, a portable fight stick, and downloadable content that includes an exclusive Mortal Kombat Klassic costume skin and avatar costumes. The number of tournament editions is very limited with only 20,000 copies available in North America.

And because I know how much you guys love retail exclusives, here’s what you can snag at GameStop, Best Buy and Amazon:

  • Gamestop: Customers who pre-order their copy of Mortal Kombat at Gamestop will get exclusive access to the Klassic Scorpion Playable Character Skin and the original Scorpion Fatality.
  • Best Buy: Customers who pre-order their copy of Mortal Kombat at Best Buy will get exclusive access to the Klassic Sub-Zero Playable Character Skin and the original Sub-Zero Fatality.
  • Amazon: Customers who pre-order their copy of Mortal Kombat on Amazon.com will get exclusive access to the Klassic Reptile Playable Character Skin and the original Reptile Fatality.

Last, but definitely not least, is a bit of information on Kratos appearing exclusively in the Playstation 3 version of Mortal Kombat:

Mortal Kombat will feature Kratos as a playable character, as well as be in Stereoscopic 3-D exclusively in the PS3 version. The brutal warrior from the acclaimed God of War franchise will have his own customized move set, fatality, and fighting arena, available to all original purchasers when Mortal Kombat hits stores.

All of this sounds very awesome. I’m definitely high on the PS3 version and I’d probably buy it from Best Buy for classic Sub-Zero. How about you? What permutation of Mortal Kombat interests you the most? Name your preferred platform and retail exclusive (please)!

My iPad 2 Dream Might Come True!

It looks like my wish for an iPad 2 with Retina Display technology and dual cameras will come true. Well, that or the peeps are Reuters are being annoying teases. The company hit up four of its sources and discovered:

One of those said the revamped model would feature cameras on the front and rear, while the other said the new model would be slimmer, lighter and have a better resolution display.

Camera module makers Genius Electronic Optical Co Ltd and Largan Precision Co Ltd were also starting new supply deals with Apple, two sources said, but neither could confirm for which product the modules were intended.

A front-facing camera was a given considering Apple’s aggressive plans for FaceTime. A high-resolution rear camera for photos would be a huge plus for me. Apple’s vaunted Retina Display would make the iPad 2 a joy to look at and give the company a convenient way to maintain current price points. I hope all these rumors pan out! Any of you excited for an iPad 2 with the aforementioned features?

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Coffee Talk #264: Game Developers vs. Game Journalists

I have the utmost respect for game developers. I’m amazed by how hard many of them work and how much they put into their games. With that in mind, I hate when developers…

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, the beauty of Buddha Bar, the Red Sox owning the MLB winter meetings, or why Winona Ryder isn’t bigger, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

I have the utmost respect for game developers. I’m amazed by how hard many of them work and how much they put into their games. With that in mind, I hate when developers accuse reviewers of “not getting it”? I understand that developers get attached to their products and it’s sometimes hard for them to take criticism, but it’s ridiculous when they think it’s some sort of disrespectful conspiracy.

Silicon Knights’ Dennis Dyack immediately comes to mind when thinking about this whole deal. More than any other developer, he has been extremely critical of game reviewers. (In some cases he’s absolutely right. In others, he sounds a little crazy.) When Too Human was met with mediocre to poor reviews, Dyack accused journalists of not getting it.

More recently, Warren Spector felt that game reviewers didn’t understand the camera in Epic Mickey. He told MTV:

This is a game that takes platforming elements and adventure game elements and role-playing elements and merges them. So we couldn’t tune the camera perfectly for platforming or for action adventure. It’s a very different camera style. What we did is try to find the best compromise in the moment and give the player as much manual control as we could. So we took the hardest problem in third-person gaming and made it harder by trying to accommodate two different playing styles.

And I will go to my grave, imperfect as it is, proud as hell of my camera team. If reviewers want to give us a hard time about it because they’re misunderstanding the game we made, it’s not for me to tell them that they’re wrong, absolutely not.

The thing is, I don’t think reviewers should give a damn that the camera tried to accommodate a variety of genres. They should give a damn that the camera takes away from the game’s fun and should convey that to their readers. At the end of the day, reviewers are gamers. They are responsible for telling their fellow gamers whether a game is enjoyable enough to purchase.

Anyway, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the issue. Should reviewers care about the developers’ technical goals when judging a game? Do developers have a point when they say that reviewers don’t get it? Lastly, can you please take away my nasty hangover?