I keep thinking that I really like A Valley Without Wind, but then designer Chris Park overhauls some aspect of it and I realize that, oh, wait, now I really like it. The moment to moment gameplay hasn’t changed much since the game was released. This is still an infinitely large, procedurally generated world that you explore by playing a latter day version of Castlevania. But what’s changing dramatically is the gameplay that pulls you through this infinitely large world.
After the jump, we built this city on rock and role Continue reading →
I’m a dude, so I don’t carry a purse. But one thing Secret World has taught me is that if I did carry a purse, I’d optimize the heck out of it.
After the jump, what’s in the bag? Continue reading →
So, uh, The Amazing Spider-Man. Yep. Thanks, Marc Webb. At the 48-minute mark, this week’s 3×3 is the best genetics in a movie. We don’t really know what to make of the subject either.
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I love the game that Secret World is supposed to be. This new horror themed MMO from Funcom, the developers who launched Anarchy Online, and Electronic Arts, the publishers who designed Star Wars: The Old Republic, is the genre’s freshest breath of air since DC Universe Online. It takes a unique approach to worldbuilding with a world unique among MMOs. It admirably solves traditional problems like stale gameplay, played out settings, and players scattered among multiple servers. It has style, flair, subtlety, personality.
Unfortunately, I haven’t been playing the game that Secret World is supposed to be. I’ve instead been playing the game that was released.
After the jump, unsolved and unsolvable mysteries Continue reading →
The nicest thing I can say about the Amazing Spider-Man game is that it’s better than the hilariously incompetent movie.
After the jump, it’s all downhill from there Continue reading →
An Assassin’s Creed movie seemed dead in the water after Ubisoft failed to interest Sony in a deal last year. But now, according to Variety, Ubisoft’s newly formed movie division has signed a deal with Michael Fassbender and his production partner’s development company. Now an Assassin’s Creed movie has a little of the star power it needs to get underway.
This doesn’t mean an Assassin’s Creed movie will happen. It just means Fassbender’s name makes it a lot more financially viable. But until more and bigger players are attached to the process, it’s got a long way to go. Note this bit from the Variety article:
Ubisoft execs now plan to stick to their initial plan and develop the film independently in order to maintain greater creative control. Last year, Ubisoft invested in launching [Ubisoft Motion Pictures], headed by [Jean-Julien] Baronnet, former CEO of Luc Besson’s EuropaCorp, to adapt the company’s games into films, TV shows and digital projects. While Sony could still wind up distribing the films, UMP will package the project with a writer and director before resuming talks with the studio.
“Develop the film independently in order to maintain greater creative control” is shorthand for “couldn’t get funding”.
Movies are huge slow beasts that take a long time to slouch to your local theater. Most of them lose steam along the way. Many of them lie down and die. Some of them limp onto DVD. An Assassin’s Creed movie still has a long way to slouch. Note that bit in the article about Ubisoft resuming talks with Sony once a writer and director are attached to the project. Fassbender’s involvement is a nice bit of leverage, but there’s still a long way to go before we get neck-stabbing in the theater. Which we probably won’t get, because there’s no way an Assassin’s Creed movie will be rated R.
Are you ready for some football? Some college football? Some videogame college football? Some NCAA 13 from Electronic Arts? If not, your wallet is safe, because that’s pretty much the only game out this week.
Happy Independence Day to everyone in the United States, and happy 4th of July to everyone in the rest of the world! We’re going to take a long weekend to shoot fireworks, hum our national anthem, and mock British people for not being the boss of us. But mostly we’re going to log some serious Secret World time for next week’s game diary. Stay safe, have fun, and we’ll see you on Monday!
As the staff of Quarter to Three goes home for the long holiday weekend, we’ll leave you with a touch of our own fireworks in the form of an annual half-year list. What are the ten best games of the year so far?
But first, a quick mention for some games that didn’t make the list. I admire Dragon’s Dogma for making all the weird choices that other RPGs are afraid to make, but being different can only get you so far. I ended up preferring some very conventional RPGs. Warlock: Master of the Arcane and Conquest of Elysium 3 have made it a great year for turn-based fantasy. Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion for the PC, Defender Chronicles II for the iPhone, and Resident Evil: Revelations on the Nintendo 3DS are all great. However, each of these games is an iteration of an earlier recent game. Speaking of the Nintendo 3DS, Zen Pinball 3D and Kid Icarus meant the 3DS had more than three times as many must-haves as Sony’s Playstation Vita.
But, after the jump, there are ten games I liked better than any of those. Continue reading →
Activision knows one of the best ways to celebrate America’s birthday is with some good old fashioned global hegemony. In China, for instance. And they have just the game to do it. Unfortunately, World of Warcraft is already really big in China. So they’re making a go of it with a second game!
The new game Call of Duty Online for China will capitalize on the rich multiplayer experience that the Call of Duty franchise is known for and introduce a new gaming model designed specifically for the Chinese market. This new model will allow players the ability to personalize their weapons, characters and equipment like never before in a Call of Duty game. Using an in-game store, players can enhance their weapons, gear, and perks built specifically for the Chinese market. The new game will also bring a variety of game modes and maps and features an original story told through a series of Special Operations missions based on the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare universe.
Don’t think we didn’t notice the use of the verb “capitalize” in that first line, Activision. Well played.
If you bought the Xbox 360 version of Dragon’s Dogma — you did buy Dragon’s Dogma, didn’t you? — then you have access to Capcom’s Resident Evil 6 demo today. Here’s what you get:
Play as Leon S. Kennedy alongside Helena Harper and explore the dark confines of the Ivy University campus and the zombies that fill its hallways. Select Chris Redfield’s mission and head to China for an intense encounter against the deadly J’avo with BSAA colleague Piers Nivans on the rooftops of Lanshiang. The third mission shifts the action to the war-torn Eastern European state of Edonia and sees Jake Muller and Sherry Berkin trying to escape the relentless pursuit of the Ustanak, one of the new B.O.W.’s being introduced in Resident Evil 6.
Helena Harper, Piers Nivans, Jake Muller, and Sherry Berkin? The J’avo? An Ustanak? One of the hallmarks of a Resident Evil game, clearly demonstrated in that screenshot above, is that I have no idea what the hell is going on.
Chris Hornbostle joins us for what was supposed to be a short pre-holiday episode in which we talked about Secret World for about an hour. Turns out there’s a lot to say about Secret World.
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This week sees the release of two games arguably not ready for release. Funcom’s X-Files meets Lovecraft meets Stephen King MMO Secret World is suffering the usual teething pains you’d unfortunately expect from an MMO launch. And the sexycool, superdumb, weirdly clunky/weirdly sleek sci-fi strategy game Endless Space has moved up from its August 24th release date, apparently for financial reasons. I like each game — a lot — but I’m also keenly aware that they both need work, and that it’s a sad state of affairs when games this potentially good are pushed out the door untimely with promises of patches to follow. On the same note, world peace remains elusive.
Spelunky might be old news to some folks, since it’s been out for more than three years as a freeware game on the PC. But how good can a free game be? Right? If it was any good, it would cost a few bucks. So I’ve held out for the $10 downloadable version, available this week on Xbox Live Arcade. Holy cats, I had no idea such a seriously punishing, side-scrolling, dynamically generated dungeonplumb existed. With multiplayer! Spelunky may very well be the 8-bit equivalent of Demon’s Souls, but harder. It hates me. I think I love it. So far, we’ve got a very dysfunctional thing going.
The real wallet threat for me is mostly an unknown. You’d think Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legend is just another cash-in for a set of fancypants supercars licensed by Atari. I can’t tell one fancypants supercar from another, so why should I care that this game is specifically about fancypants supercars from Spanish car-maker Ferrari? But the developers at Slightly Mad Studios made two of the best racing games I’ve ever played, Need for Speed: Shift and Need for Speed: Shift II. If they can bring to Ferrari Racing Legends just half of the attention to physics, graphics, gameplay progression, and just plain energy level that make the Shift games great, I don’t care if it’s a game based on driving Hyundais.
Finally, Max Payne 3 is getting three new maps for multiplayer, which is the hands-down best part of the game. I’d be tempted to get three news map, but it looks like these are two smaller deathmatch maps, with only one that supports the superlative far-ranging gang wars mode. After the awesome DLC for Grand Theft Auto IV and Red Dead Redemption, it’s a shame to see Rockstar taking a page from the Call of Duty playbook.
Is Brave one of Pixar’s best or one of Pixar’s meh-est? After Kellywand’s four-act synopsis, we have a two-to-one split on this lastest Disney princess movie. Then this week’s 3×3 is about our favorite characters with disabilities, starting at the 57-minute mark.
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After the stunning debut of Zen Pinball on the Nintendo 3DS (read the adoring review here), developer Zen Studios’ next trick is Marvel Pinball 3D, a collection of four superhero tables ported over from the Xbox 360 and PS3 collections. Here come The Fantastic Four, Blade, Captain America, and Iron Man to your Nintendo 3DS.
After the jump, that man is playing something other than Galaga Continue reading →
